Abstract Canada receives worldwide attention for its single-payer and single-tier universal health coverage system, with hospital, diagnostic and primary care services free of user fees. The level of health spending and overall population health outcomes are comparable to other high-income countries such as France and Australia, but compared to the US Canada spends half as much on health care and achieves significantly better health outcomes. Nevertheless, it faces several challenges. One is providing financial access to other services. Pharmaceutical coverage is uneven and less generous than in comparable countries globally. Access to dental care, not covered for the general population, is challenging for the roughly one-third of the population lacking supplemental coverage, which nearly always is obtained through the workplace. The 2016 Commonwealth Fund international population surveys of 11 countries found that 41% of Canadians said they skipped dental care/check-ups in the past year due to costs - second highest among after the US. A second challenge is waiting for services. Canada shows the longest waits for specialist and surgical services. The third is stasis regarding adapting to changes in medicine and service delivery to improve quality and address major gaps in health across sub-populations such as Indigenous peoples. Innovations such as managed care and pay-for-performance lag behind most countries. Reform efforts aim to address fragmented care across providers, increase coverage, and reduce pharmaceutical costs. There are efforts to strengthen primary care, better coordinate across sectors, and reduce costly specialized care. There has also been increasing momentum to address financial barriers to accessing prescription drugs and containing pharmaceutical costs through a national “pharmacare” plan.