Miguel_Zorro said:
I'm a Canadian. I think most Americans don't know what they're getting themselves into.
If I get sick, I have to wait several hours to see a doctor. When I finally get to see a doctor, I get maybe 10 minutes with them. What good is "free" health care (It's not free, I pay more for it through taxes than I would pay in a free market system) if I can't get it when I need it? Generally, if I go to a doctor, I leave without getting the issue resolved.
I'll use a common analogy - the car. In the American system, everybody buys the car that they can afford. Some people can afford amazing cars. Unfortunately, some people can't afford a car at all.
In the Canadian system, the people who can afford the really nice car still have to pay for it, but they don't get it. Instead, everybody gets the same, unreliable 30 year old car. 9 times out of 10, it doesn't even start. On the 1 time out of 10 that it actually does start, you're lucky if it doesn't blow up with you inside it.
Lots of health care systems have their problems. The American system has issues that have needed fixing for a long time. However, people who hold up the Canadian system as some sort of success model (I'm looking at you, Michael Moore) are either ignorant, intentionally misleading people, or both.
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I think it's your post that is intentionally misleading people. Any emergency room is based on triage and the reason you waited for so long is because they deemed others to be have a more serious medical emergency. You would experience the exact same kinds of wait times in the majority of hospitals in the United States.
If you ever find yourself in a serious accident you'll be singing the praises of our system because that's really where it shines. The majority of bankruptcies in the United States have medical costs as a signficant factor. Also for those that will try to blame that on a lack of health insurance, 75% of such bankruptcies are from families covered by health insurance.*
As for your 1 out of 10 claim, where are you getting that from? Are you claiming 9 out of 10 Canadians die because of inadequate medical care? Are you saying 9 out of 10 people in Canada don't get adequate medical care? Seriously what exactly are you claiming and show us some numbers to back up your claim.
*Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5530Y020090604
