>>Tell you what...read this article.....read it thoroughly....listen to what this woman says....and then ask yourself where you should direct your righteous indignation...
>>
>>http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/CT_holmes19_07-19-08_AFART5K_v9.4119004.html
>
>A meaningless anecdote Kevin. Would she have been better off in Canada if there was no public health care. No. She chose to pay in the US and I don't doubt that had she wanted to she could have paid in Canada. And the American system the envy of the world. I'm afraid thats not how I or anyone I know sees it.

You're wrong about "could have paid in Canada" - she could not, because that choice does not exist here. There is effectively no private care available in Canada.

That's the truly awful thing about the current Canadian system - you can spend all the money you want on booze and cigarettes, but you can't buy improved health care in Canada. If you want care that's better than what the Canadian health care system is willing to give you for free, you have to go outside the country.

Current thinking is that some level of private care availability is required to deal with some of these deficiencies. This is helped along by the landmark legal ruling in Quebec: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1118315110253_28/?hub=TopStories

Governments and medical associations in Canada are currently looking hard at mixed models, such as are present (as I understand it) in France.