Their health care is TERRIBLE.
I have a friend who’s married to a Canadian gal. His father in law has a high psa test. They were very slow to treat him, telling him to wait and making appointments nearly impossible to get. Months later he was having worse symptoms — they finally biopsies and determined it was an aggressive small-cell carcinoma. The had many more delays before finally operating on him, too late. He died a few months ago. His daughter (lives with her American husband, my friend in the USA) is still devastated — she pleaded with him to push hard for treatment but like most Canadians he believed the government was doing all they could (and maybe they were within the constraints of the uncaring system).
It was a totally preventable death, if he had been treated promptly. They kept telling him “you have priority” which is meaningless when the system is so slow, cumbersome and impersonal.
In Canada you can’t change your doctor — and doctors don’t work much due to labor laws. If your doctor is on vacation you have to wait for them to return.
It’s fine for minor ailments, but if you have a real issue you’re SCREWED.
Ugly real-world example of what I pointed out just above. Many come to the U.S. for quick treatment.
“In Canada you can’t change your doctor — and doctors don’t work much due to labor laws. If your doctor is on vacation you have to wait for them to return.”
Absolute utter balderdash. I’ve lived in four provinces and in every case, I chose my own doctor, and if and when that doctor was away someone of his/her choosing handled his/her patients in the interim. Where, pray tell, do you get your information?