I'm sure someone that is a lot more knowledgeable about the Canuck system of health care will speak up, until then I'll do my best to appraise you of the situation. It's essentially a big disgrace. Hallway medicine is rampant (at least in Manitoba) and waiting lists are atrocius. I personally know of half a dozen people who have had to seek medical help in the US (out of pocket of course) because they couldn't get a simple procedure (such as an MRI) in time to potentially save their life. An older gentleman I know is down @ Mayo right now having a pacemaker and a defibrilator (sp) implanted because it would have taken approx a year and a half to have it done in Canada. Doc says he wouldn't have made it.

At least one political party in Canada wants to block the building of private health care clinics too (must think it's better that these people are forced to flee to the States to have life saving operations performed). And the political party that caused all this were voted in, again, less than a month ago. This all despite the fact that they were caught, red-handed, stealing/wasting billions of tax payer's money (enough that could have paid for all kinds of MRI machines).

Despite all my ranting, it's really not that bad of a system. The basic health care system works quite well. Unfortunately, it is too poorly funded to allow for desperately needed upgrades in the more intensive care areas.

I apologize if I offended anyone with the preceding rant. I was just very frustrated with the outcome of our recent elections (I'm sure you've long since figured with what party my heart lies as well). I'm also not usually one to enter a political debate (despite that I'm normally very political), I just feel more qualified to answer questions from the Canadian point of view.

Once again, sorry if I offended anyone.


"Chickens don't clap."