[kevinm13]

In Ontario, Canada's largest province where all doctors are employees of the government, here is a chart of improvements to wait times for various procedures following some recent moves.

Since August/September 2005, wait times have decreased by :

* 32.8% (102 days) for cataract surgery
* 18.9% (83 days) for knee replacement
* 20.8% (73 days) for hip replacement
* 53.6% (30 days) for angiography
* 5.8% (7 days) for MRI scans
* 28.6% (8 days) for angioplasty
* 13.6% (11 days) for CT scans

These are improved wait times. So you can calculate how much the wait times were before this. Under universal healthcare, we all become numbers and get waited upon based on when we showed up not on what health issue we have. Universal healthcare is bad as seen in Canada and the UK (they have some private medicine there which isn't allowed in Canada).

[RockyMtnMan]

That's nothing, my father had to wait 2 days to have his appendix removed while in Canada on a road-trip. Instead of operating they put him on intravenous antibiotics in case it burst.He passed out on the floor in pain before being taken to the hospital, so it was very close to rupturing.

When I had the same condition and reported to the hospital, in the good ol' USA, it was removed in less than 30 minutes after diagnosis (2 hrs). That is a testament to private pay insurance.