That ' s exclusively because of a coverage gap . There is effectively no private insurance industry for things already covered as private coverage for anything covered by the single payer system is illegal in most of Canada . It ' s alive because of the status quo , not because of any political will to keep it alive . If more things end up being covered one day the insurance industry will decline , and I think there ' s a chance prescriptions will one day start being covered . That ' s where most of the money is . There ' s going to be a massive decline in the industry in such a scenario . It ' s not going to be alive and well anymore . <| sep |> Why is this so controversial ? Mods have been modifying messages on forums since their inception . And that sub definitely does not have the moral high ground