However, when you have other problems (we have to see an orthophonist for my son), you can wait for several years. I presently have 2 options:
#1 wait 1-2 years on a waiting list
#2 pay $200/hour in a private clinic and wait 2-3 months…

I let you guess what is my choice

Where they do seem to save money is in rooms and food. They were not hotel or gourmet standard by any means. But that doesn’t affect the health of the patient so it’s fine.

You do hear stories about long waits. These are very annoying for those involved, but they are not usually life threatening. The life-threatening procedures all get first priority. I do think that Canadian health care can be improved dramatically. I really am disappointed at how some regimes basically force the patient to use an expensive form of healthcare like an emergency room for non-emergency or easy-to-solve issues. i.e., in the above fever example the patients could have easily been monitored by nurses and told to come back if the fever persisted or worsened. Then if it did the follow-up could be scheduled or something.

Regardless, I’ve never had more than a 4 hour wait myself, probably because I don’t go in for anything other than real emergencies.

I am a Canadian living in the U.S. as an Air Force wife and am fortunate to be covered by Tricare, the health insurance of the U.S. Armed Forces. For me, the transition from Canadian health care to Tricare was imperceptible: I see no bills nor do I often have to deal with insurance representatives. Tricare is even more inclusive than provincial health coverage because it also covers prescriptions, dental, optical, etc. Most Americans do not have this luxury of never worrying about being denied payment for reasonable claims.

Lately I have been forced to hear the same ridiculous regurgitated conservative propaganda about how government-provided health insurance would “put a bureaucrat between me and my health care” and “limit my health care choices”. Ironically, the only Americans with health care which is both affordable and comprehensive are the very same who are told when and where they are allowed to reside and work in the service of their country.

The problem as I see it is that although Americans do have a faint inkling that they have a health care system that is unworthy of them, they simply cant believe that they could have been so thoroughly duped by the industry. Competition is always the answer in the U.S. system, isn’t it? How could it fail in health care? Manufacturers and utilities are indicted for creating monopolies or for price fixing, but health and quality of life is such a sacred thing for Americans; they cannot bring themselves to believe that these companies can care more about money than an irreplaceable life. The insurance companies take vicious advantage of that. I also believe that as bad as the system is now, many Americans fear that any change could only be for the worse.