>>>>I agree with you. I like the fact that we have the freedom to choose if we want health insuranse or not here, but the price of health insuranse is getting a little crazy.
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>>>You can choose not pay the $35 per month up here. You'd be crazy not too since it is a steal for what you get.
>>You pay a monthly fee for your socialized health plan? Isn't it included in your taxes? I guess I don't really know how socialized health care works in Canada, but I thought it was similar to the Kindom of Norway's socialized healthcare.
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>Different provinces do it different ways.
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>In Ontario it is now included as part of provincial income taxes, not even separately itemized (except for a special "surtax" now in effect that is supposed to last a few years). Previously employers paid an amount per employee, with self-employeds paying directly about $150. per half year. I think the huge increase in "part time" status forced the provincial government to change it.
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>While our system ain't perfect, it's generally criticized by those who have never used it and/or by those who equate "socialized" with "socialist".
>By the way, those who can afford to are certainly free to go to the U.S. for whatever treatment they like as long as they pay for it themselves. And since approximately 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border it isn't really a hardship for the well-to-do. Few do it, but some do and they often like to inform the media after they've done so.

Are there long waiting lists for non-critical surgery in Canada? By non critical I do not mean cosmetic surgery, but rather things that can wait, for example having toncils removed or putting in an artificial hip or something like that. I did not know that each province did it differently.