[quote=svelte]
I would be curious to hear what you have thought of Canadian health care.

Were there long waits?

What did you like? What did you dislike?

I’m not taking sides, just curious.[/quote]

I grew up here, so its hard to compare our health care to any other health care as I don’t know any other. That said ..

I think we have good care. The only waits I ever really hear about are for specialized tests and surgeries for things that aren’t immediately life threatening. If you are dying or something, they’ll get you in. If you have a cold or you got drunk and fell and hit your head, well, you may wait.

My first hand experience on the test side is mixed. I had an issue that got diagnosed as something that wasn’t urgent and hence my tests were scheduled 6 months out. 5 months later it turned out it WAS an urgent issue and I got in for surgery that day and had all the tests I needed within hours. I ended up spending a few weeks in the hospital. It didn’t cost me anything. I did have supplemental employer health insurance, but thats only to cover the upgrade from a shared hospital room to a semi private room – it didn’t change my care level at all.

People don’t go bankrupt because they had to go to the hospital, and people don’t avoid going to the doctor because they can’t afford it. That said, in my case it would have been nice to have the option to pay and get my test sooner.