[Former Proud Canadian]

Whenever the user considers something to be "free" it will be overused. Ask anybody who works in a Canadian ER.

Even token deductibles would cut costs enormously, but the government will not hear of it.

[originalbuckeye]

In the 80’s, I had a friend (American) who was married to a Canadian hockey player. They lived in Canada in the off season. I have been in health care for decades so I asked her what was the system really like. She said in the areas with more sparse populations, the locals would bring their kids to the ER with some complaint and then leave them, like it was childcare. The clinics couldn't do anything about it, so kept the children until the parents came to fetch them. Why do I see how this could happen here?

[VanShuyten]

“Whenever the user considers something to be “free” it will be overused. Ask anybody who works in a Canadian ER.”

Here’s the editor’s voxplanation for why that just isn’t true, by golly:

“...there is actually little evidence that Canadians overuse the system. The long waits for care, both in emergency rooms and in booking physician visits, actually discourage abuse.”