21: "To get an appointment with a doctor you have to wait MONTHS." Yeah, not so much. I live in England and if I call my doctor's surgery before 10am I can get an appointment the same day. It's only the specialists that take longer to see, and that's usually a matter of six weeks or so, not months. And I don't have to pay for my meds which, in your country, would cost more than I even earn - I checked it out and they'd be $24,000 at the cheapest. Also, universal doesn't work like that, at least not here. If you want a surgery and the NHS won't let you have it on their system, you can go private and pay for it yourself, but if anything goes wrong after an elective surgery you would have to fund the treatment to fix it - which is the way it is in the US anyway, isn't it? You're an idiot. Do some research on universal healthcare outside Canada before damning it in general - it isn't the same for every country.

medfly and musu, I completely agree with you, and I'm an American. Universal healthcare isn't socialism, it's a human right. I have relatives in Canada, and they have so much less to worry about when it comes to healthcare. Sure sometimes they have to wait for non-emergency care, but if you asked them (which we US relatives have), they still wouldn't trade their system for our crap one.

I dont think you're that stupid. I let my dad cut my stitches out because it was going to cost $180 just for 30 seconds worth of work. And your arm shrinks in a cast, so I can see why you thought it was possible to do so.

Well, you beat me to it. But although cases like your aunts do occur, it does NOT reflect the majority of situations. Naturally, if you go searching for negativity, that's what you'll find. But I'd like to point out that the cost to stay in an American hospital is 5000$ a night, not including medications and doctors fees, or surgery. To have a baby can cost around 10 000$, without major complications. There are many families forced to go hungry and mortgage their houses in attempts to cover hospital bills for a family member who's fallen ill. Premature babies are costing meals from their siblings. People sit at home dying of cancer and other terminal diseases because they don't want to burden their families with medical costs. At least in Canada and other countries with universal health care, you get the treatment you need, regardless of your financial situation. People are valued for their humanity instead of their richess, and everyone gets a fair chance at life.

#21 - Wow, you're sure misinformed. Except for specialists, you can get in within a few weeks. Or you could just go to a walk-in clinic or hospital and get treated or tested for a number of things within several hours. A cast taken off, for instance, would be extremely quick and free. And the wait-time for specialists is pretty much the same in both the US and Canada. And the government doesn't go through every single person's file to determine if they can get surgery or not. To put it simply, if you need treatment you can get it. There may be waits, depending on what you need, but the states are not completely wait-free either. People heading down to the states for their surgery generally a) have money, and b) it's not an essential surgery in the first place. Oh, and optometry and dentistry aren't covered by the universal health care in Canada - they're either out of pocket or through insurance companies, so it makes for a very bad argument against universal health care. While I'm not saying that universal health care is flawless, it's better than having no insurance or stuck paying for an expensive plan only to be dumped the moment you get sick. You're so scared that the government will decide who lives or dies that you can't see that insurance companies do the exact same thing. Worse even, since the more people they deny the more money they keep for themselves and they aren't accountable to the people like governments are.

thats US health care for you

wow...you're a whole new level of moron

Definitely FYL. People should never be put in such a position. Hope you're OK.

I clicked fyl by accident. YDI.

And one more thing.. life-saving surgery doesn't have long wait times, unless you are in née of a donor organ and a match isn't available. Which is the same as in the US, except you won't have to pay. And as previously stated, optometry and dentistry aren't included in our universal system, and shouldn't affect your argument. Which pretty much voids your statement. Time to do your research?