Okay ture, but what about the 8-12 hour wait in ER to be seen or people driving 200km round-trip to a smaller towns' hospital because its faster??

You are right. And even though the US has the leading edge a very large portion of its citizens cannot afford the treatments, its wrong. SpryLilLady, its not an 8-12 hour wait, the most critical patients are seen first and thats the way it should be, eventually the will all be seen and will not have to go into debt doing so.

If people are waiting 8-12 hours in an Emergency room to be seen it's because they have a condition that requires a GP or family doctor not emergency care. As for getting a GP or family doctor, there are no excuses for people who say they cannot find one, most provinces have special telephone lines which list physicians taking new patients. I have lived in four towns/cities (one of which was Toronto) in the last two years and have always had a GP or family doctor that I would see and I never had a problem getting one.

It must have changed for the better.  I'm Canadian and I'm speaking about a specific case that happened.  I'm hoping that there has been improvements and I can say nothing but good for the healthcare professionals as the stress is just astronomical and it takes a special person to be in the field.

www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2006/07/26/miscarriage.html

But I personally witnessed the mother bringing her Asthmatic child the 200km to a smaller town.

Cheerios,

Check out the message board for this episode.

Yes, Canadians who live in small towns in rural areas do have to travel for some medical treatments...but they know that when they move there or they did not do their homework, (and I have lived in very remote areas). 

There is a reason why they have to travel...

Size of Canada - 2nd largest country in the world second to Russia...it is a huge country but beautiful.

Population of Canada - 1/10th of the population of the USA.

Does it make sense now why they have to travel to larger areas if they cannot get the medical care locally?

You missread my post.  This person left the big city to come to the small town hospital to be seen quicker.

It would be completely unreasonable to think that there are no flaws in our healthcare system. But consider this, someone may have made a conscious decision to drive 200km to be seen quicker, but in the United States if you don't have healthcare and you walk into an Emergency room, a 200km drive would be a blessing compared to your wait. Of course the wait is longer in larger centres, more people = more illness and emergencies = longer wait. That will be the case anywhere. However, once the wait is over, the quality of care is outstanding.

I   agree!  I haven't said the quality wasn't there.  Just the wait.  I probably went off topic, as per norm for me.  I just made a random comment on the wait, not what the topic was really about.