Long before the current debate over health care in the United States took centre stage, my stepmother used to forward me these disturbing mass emails she received about the Canadian medical system.

My stepmother is liberal in her views. The emails she forwarded to me were written by right-wing foes of socialized medicine and sent by friends of hers who opposed government-run health care. These friends knew she supported health care reform and hoped to win her over.

She forwarded the emails to me — hoping I’d set the record straight about the Canadian medical system. That way, she could go back to her friends and refute the information about Canada.

The emails were over the top, to say the least. They discussed the “horrors” of the Canadian medical system: long waits, people with no access to family doctors, patients dying as a result of not getting routine surgeries. They made Canada sound like a Third World country.

Many of these claims came from anonymous sources – “friends of a friend of mine,” that sort of thing. Sometimes, the emails named the names of unfortunate people who had been through medical ordeals in Canada.

I was honest with my stepmother. The Canadian system isn’t perfect, I said. And there are undoubtedly some true stories about long wait times, problems finding family physicians and so forth. But even with its flaws, the system still enjoys widespread support in Canada.

Unfortunately, there are powerful institutions and individuals in America who have a vested interest in pushing these negative portrayals of the Canadian health care system. These zealots will take whatever negative stories they hear about our system and toss them into their propaganda stew. They add fuel to the fire by financing websites, advertisements, and so-called “citizens” organizations like Patients United Now.

Patients United Now is the group behind the Shona Holmes television advertisements in the United States. These ads were part of a larger propaganda war against President Barack Obama’s health care reform efforts. Holmes, a resident of Waterdown, Ont., went to the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. to get treatment for a growth near her pituitary gland. She became the face of the U.S. lobby against Canadian-style health care when she claimed in the advertisement that she “survived a brain tumour, but if I’d relied on my government for health care, I’d be dead.”

The Holmes ad fit neatly into the agenda of this powerful lobby, which just wants to leave the U.S. medical system alone. And they’ll use any and every little bit of negative information about the Canadian health care system—such as the Holmes case—to their advantage.

Keep in mind: Not all Americans feel this way. Our neighbours to the south are deeply divided about health care reform. The battle lines have been drawn. In most cases, conservative Republicans and their supporters are one side of the divide; President Barack Obama, the Democrats, and a growing number of doctors’ associations are on the other. Both camps are seeking to win ordinary Americans to their side.

Opponents of reform are often fanatical in their views. You can’t reason with them or calmly explain the complexities of the Canadian system. If you cite the latest Angus Reid poll — showing that 65 per cent of Canadians have a “very positive” or “moderately positive” view of their single-payer health care system — it won’t have much of an impact on those resisting change. Their minds are made up.

But it is useful to remember that these zealots do not represent the entire country.

Andrew Hunt is an associate professor of history at the University of Waterloo.