That's true and a good comparison. You are comparing a national health
service that gives the same service as those in the US that don't have
insurance.
That's about right as the lowered Canadian service in trying to get everyone
"free" health is brought to such a low standard as in those of the US
without insurance.

"Ontario, Canada, is also having a problem with physicians. In this case
there aren't enough to go around. A government report calls for an increase
of 1,000 physicians. Part of the problem is a medical "brain drain."
According to the president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Hugh
Scully, 50 percent of Canadian medical school graduates emigrate within 10
years of graduation and an additional 25 percent leave within 15 years. To
make matters worse, 42 percent of family doctors are refusing to accept new
patients.

The Ontario government has proposed several steps for increasing the number
of physicians, including an attempt to "lure Canadian medical-school
graduates back from the United States, where many have gone for
post-graduate training." It might be worth adding here that with all of the
problems the American health care system has, doctors do not go on strike
and they do not emigrate en masse to single-payer countries in order to
provide better care for their patients.

Access to New Therapies and Technology. In a single-payer system where
health care budgets are tight, bureaucrats and politicians tend to see new
technology as too costly for the benefit. As a result, they usually provide
only enough funds to purchase a limited amount of the newest technology - if
any at all. And the decisions on what to buy and when to buy it are often
arbitrary and guided more by good politics than good medicine.

Even more importantly, these arbitrary limits usually enshrine the medical
knowledge and techniques current at the time of their first imposition. A
central control system cannot afford new medical discoveries and treatments
because they were not in the budget and no funding or other resources were
allocated. Thus, a single-payer system inherently tends to foster outdated
medical techniques and resist new or innovative ones."

Stories abound of Canadians going to extreme measures in order to gain
access to medical technology. For example, several years ago an enterprising
hospital in Guelph, Ontario, decided to allow animals needing CT scans to
enter the hospital in the middle of the night - charging pet owners C$300
apiece. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that except that thousands
of people in Ontario were waiting up to three months for an appointment on
the same machine.

"I'd go any time," said Greg Moulton, who was in the middle of a two-month
wait to learn why he was having "excruciating" headaches. Because people are
not allowed to pay out of pocket for medical procedures covered under the
government-run plan, they have to wait. If you are a dog, you can get
medical technology immediately.

When dogs get better treatment than people, then people will become dogs. In
December 1999, The Washington Post reported that waiting lines for MRIs in
Ontario had grown so long that one Ontario resident "booked himself into a
private veterinary clinic that happened to have one of the machines, listing
himself as 'Fido.'"

http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/HealthCare/PBMatthewsCihakHealthCareQuality.html

Where do you think the changes came from on the monitoring of the waiting
list?

That's why the Canadian system will not survive the way it is.
People like yourself just simply turn your back on people and let them die
waiting and it takes an act of the Canadian Supreme Court that is unrelated
to the government branch which actually regulates and controls health or the
doctors that you call "private". They did nothing and they will do nothing.
A patient complaining to them does absolutely nothing. You get a case in
court and then all of a sudden all the politicians say that they learned
their lesson. They will monitor waiting times.

You need to educate your own Canadians who are complaining about your system
but I guess it's not politically expedient to even remotely admit that they
exist. Keep on turning your back on those complaints and see what happens.
The US does not have a national health system for all that forbids any
private competition. If it were to have a national single payer system it
surely would not outlaw other supplemental insurance programs. No other EU
country out there has a system like Canada's. Good luck.

I think you should speak to the 20 million or so in Canada who don't have family
doctors.

There's a lot wrong with that webpage or info is not being accurately reported.
I think it's a government make work project and "feel good" to the public
endeavor.
But I posted it, in case, some can and need to get elsewhere faster, than in
their area.

It says 13 median days for Diagnositc CT scan.
I've been waiting since last March and been told at least one year.
(there's no "print" function and even if I did show that to the doctor who
ordered the test, he's a bully (walkin clinic) who is quick to show anyone the
door if they're "trouble" and questioning to many doctors is "trouble".

Cataract surgery: 85 Median wait time days.
My friend's mother waited 2 years (once discovered that she could no longer see
the TV and from the date she was approved for surgery and on the list).  The
hospital she consulted with also says 85 days.
They called me as part of a fund-raising campaign a few months ago, and I asked
them about that and they said the wait time is 2 years but worth the wait. So
how come it says 85 days?

Either the data's inaccurate or some "tiers" are getting in earlier.

I've no doubt, that _once diagnosed_ , people with cancer or heart disease get
excellent and prompt care.
But if they've no family or other doctor, how do they get diagnosed?
It takes a doctor to decide which tests and order them.

I think you live in a major centre?
I searched Toronto for physicians taking new patients, a few months ago and 3
names came up.

Patients who have good doctors are happy, those who don't are too afraid to
speak up publicly (a doctor is better than none) and those who don't have one
are stuck with walkin clinics. A municipality nearby had 6 or 7 years ago. 3
years ago, they only had 3.  The 3rd had 4 doctors, 3 left and the last one just
left and closed it down. Leaving two walkin clinics.

We/ve been told for 15 or more years that things will get better.
I just heard that doctors' annual caps were taken off.
Has that changed anything. No, they just push patients through faster, so they
can handle more patients (and bill for more) in a "day" and/or go to their other
"work". Many work elsewhere as well.

If you really want to know what's going on, get out there and poll people after
they leave clinics or doctor's offices (and ensure them confidentiality) but
again, in your area, the situation might be better, so you'd have to pick a
different municipality.