The HIO is not a private insurer — the GHS itself shows you the way

Seven years ago today, I was up at the crack of dawn waiting for my local pharmacy to open its shutters. The pharmacist had barely unlocked the door before I was asking her to fill my prescription through the GHS. It was one of the very first prescriptions processed through the system. I asked for a printout, kept it, and every time I come across it I feel a lump in my throat.

The GHS — its structure, its architecture, its character, its philosophy — is not merely an achievement. It is a...