I have a couple of friends from Canada and they rave about our private health care. Yes, it is more expensive, but it is more effective. They explained how long it took to get in to see a specialist. First, you have to go to a General Doc a few times before they even consider sending you to a specialist. Many times, you have to try a therapy or course of medication that lasts 6 or 7 months before going to the specialist. Then, once you get referred, it takes months to get an appointment with one. My friend Lisa told me that her uncle was having heart problems. He went to the doctor twice, they deemed that he needed a specialist, but it wasn't an emergency. Because of that, he had to wait almost three weeks before getting into the specialist. On the 18th day, just two days before his appointment, her uncle had a heart attack and died.
Lisa now lives in near Niagara Falls, in Canada. Whenever she has something serious, she will go over the border to Buffalo to get it checked out.
I found this graph showing average wait times to get into to see a specialist. Many feel Obama is pushing the U.S. towards a Canadian style of Socialized medicine. I, for one, hope we stop short of "Canadianizing" our Health Care System.
