Well, yes it does. The OP said something to the effect
"in part, due to financial reasons because of no health
insurance". It's socialized in Canada.

-Quick

Health care in Canada is private delivery, public pay, it works like one
insurance company with everyone living in the country insured.  Instead of
individuals paying premiums, the insurance is covered by taxes.  No one is
denied coverage based on pre existing conditions.  Health care is
administered by the provinces, so in Ontario, where I practice, the payor is
called Ontario Health Insurance Plan -- OHIP.

Ninety percent of doctors are in private practice, with the rest employed by
hospitals, community health centres, public health units or in teaching
facilities.  No doctors are directly employed by the government, except for
a few involved in administration of the plan.  Hospitals likewise are not
owned or operated by the government, all are independantly owned and
operated, most by non profit groups.  Hospitals are funded by a global
payment from the Ministry of Health to cover insured care, hospitals can
charge patients directly for uninsured care or for extras like TV service,
semi private or private rooms.

Doctors are mostly paid fee for service, they are paid by OHIP whenever they
see a patient and provide an insured service.  Patients have an OHIP card
that they must show when requesting service.  OHIP and the doctors
association negotiate what fees will be paid for what services.  OHIP
decides which services are insured.  For example, cosmetic surgery is not
insured, circumcision of newborns is not insured, contact lens related
services are not insured.  Billing is done monthly by computer to OHIP and
OHIP deposits payment directly into doctor's bank accounts.  There are no
insurance forms to fill out, no coverage to check and less than 3% of the
cost of health care is related to OHIP administration (for comparision, the
US private insurance model consumes about 15% of cost in insurance
administration).

Doctors maintain their own offices, hire and pay their own staff, and pay
their own overhead out of the fees paid by OHIP.  If a doctor wants to make
more money, he or she can cut office expenses or work more hours.  There is
no premium paid for doctors with more experience/ better reputations but the
fees for service are set so that the fees for more difficult and/or time
consuming procedures are higher.

Doctors can opt out of OHIP and charge patients directly for insured
services, however they are forbidden by law to charge patients more than the
OHIP rate.  Doctors are free to provide uninsured services to patients, and
can charge any fee they want, but the patients, not OHIP, pays for them.
Medical care provided for the benefit of third parties such as care for
injuries sustained from a work related accident or from a motor vehicle
accident are not OHIP insured but are paid for by Workplace Insurance
(another government program funded by levies on employers) or by car
insurance companies.  The fees paid by Workplace Insurance and private auto
insurers are generally higher than those paid by OHIP.

As far as optometrists services go, insured services varies by province.
When the system was first set up, only MD services were covered.  Eventually
ODs could also bill OHIP for medical eye care. Most provinces have
limitations on the definition of insured eye care.  Most province insure
children 19 and under and seniors 65 and over for most services.  The 20 to
64 age group has variable coverage.  In Ontario that age group is covered
for eight specified conditions (diabetes, glaucoma, retinal disease etc).
In addition, any MD or nurse practioner can request in writing (or fax) to
an OD, an eye examination for a patient  if the nurse or doctor thinks it
necessary and it will be insured.  The request is all that is needed, the
patient doesn't need to get special permission from OHIP.  Refraction is
specifically excluded as a reason for an insured exam of a person between 20
and 64, refraction is covered for the other age groups.  Optometrists bill
the patient for uninsured services like refraction and for health assessment
when no problem is found.

Ophthalmologists almost all work on referral and patients cannot directly
make appointments with them.  Since they are in short supply, most of them
do no refractions at all, only do surgery and medical management.  The
optometrists provide first line care and refractions; in my city, the local
ophthalomogists usually ask the family doctors to refer to an OD first, so
the family doc sends the red eye, sudden blur, floaters and so on to us
first and we then make the referral to the ophtho if needed.

The "line ups" for health care up here are exaggerated.  The system responds
very quickly for urgent care and emergency care.  It bogs down for elective
care like cataract, where delays, although annoying do not result in
morbidity or mortality.   The waits are largely government created as both
provincial and federal levels of government have been underfunding hospitals
for the past fifteen years in an effort to keep taxes low.  And ten years
ago, a neo conservative government cut medical school enrolment by 25% when
some whiz kid noticed that the more doctors there were, the more health care
cost.  Unfortunately, the government was unable to cut the population (ie
patients) by a similar percent and we now have a doctor shortage.  Many
hospitals have closed wards and closed operating rooms because they are not
funded or can't find doctors.  Current governments have started to address
these issues, but it will take a few years to undo the damage.

As far as quality goes, various studies have shown that the Canadian models
delivers better quality at lower cost than the private system in the US.
And in a recent news report, the automotive industry stated that the cost of
private health insurance for US workers adds over $1000 per car to the cost
of cars  made in the US vs those made in Canada.

Dr Judy