Exactly.
the system was OK until Chretien and his henchman Paul Martin started drasticly cutting health care transfer payments to the provinces so that Martin could say see look we have a surplus in the federal budget, meanwhile the beleaguered provinces were in turmoil, not the least of which they never knew from year to year how much they were getting from Ottaw so they couldn't even do 1 year let alone 5 year plans
now what my fellow Canadian posted is true and it gets worse
I live in a city of 90,000, 10,000 people don't have family doctors, the GP's quit, retired or moved, many to the States because they were fed up with the salary caps and paper work and workload........so you have go to emergency and yeah 7 - 15 hours is about right, my brother had to go last weekend or a walk in clinic, which is better than emergency but still....I don't care for my doctor but I can't switch, there is no where to go
the province changed the lab testing rules etc so it takes three months to get back results from a pap smear which is unacceptable you could be dead before you get your pap
MRI scan, good luck, try a year wait on average when you can go to Buffalo tomorrow, cost you $800 US
radiation treatement the Ontario government sometimes has to send patients to the US
if you are a patient in the hospital for any extended period of time, better hope you have a family member who can spend time helping looking after you
Mark Steyn a Canadian columnist noted that whilst Kerry is decrying the death of 1000 soldiers in Iraq and stumping for Candadian style health care, 1000 people have died of C difficile, a nasty bacteria you pick up IN the hospital, especially in Quebec, caused by lack of cleaniless in the hospitals due to cut backs - ie preventable and this thing is still spreading, so in other words we have a carnage comparable to Iraq.........but no one says much about it yet