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Most Canadians I’ve met have been honest enough to admit that their healthcare is not “free”. They pay a boatload of taxes for it.

my family in Italy is not quite that aware. They are thrilled with their "free" healthcare. Although my uncle had to wait for months to get leg surgery, and in the meantime had to walk up and down four flights of stairs to his apartment.

And that is the key point – his miniscule apartment. Miniscule by American standards. The opportunities there for jobs is stifling. If you are lucky enough to get a good paying job, then you stay in it even if you hate the work. Because there are no other opportunities. Almost everyone lives in apartments. When my cousin came over here, she couldn't believe that people had actual houses – and yards! My cousin's "bedroom" was the living room, because it was a one bedroom apartment. With no opportunity to pay for an apartment with a second bedroom. Even as it was, with a good paying job as a police officer, my uncle worked part-time selling pots and pans in the evening. And the one bedroom apartment was all they could afford.

They don't see the big picture that they are paying for this "free" healthcare by having very limited financial opportunities. They are pigeonholed into the life the government wants them to have. And in return, they get substandard "free" healthcare.