[phil248]

"Hope you aren't in a hurry to get your health issues resolved."

You make it sound so scary, but you make no mention of health outcomes. I don't care if an appointment happens in 10 minutes or 10 weeks, so long as the outcomes are positive. Wait times alone are not a meaningful metric to me.

[passing_by_and]

Well, the parent is illustrating a basic point of freshman economics. We ration scarcity with cost (money) or time. In this case Canada chose to be "fair" and ration scarcity of medical care with lines.

Your comment belies a belief that peoples time or comfort are worth nothing. Should my children wait a year or more to have a specialist examine a chronic skin condition that thus far cannot be treated and causes severe itching? In Canada the answer is yes. Ever dealt with a toddler that can't sleep and you can't help?

Acute care here is the same. People die waiting at emergency. 24 hour waits for patients not bleeding out on the floor happen (but usually we can keep it down to 12).

[phil248]

"Your comment belies a belief that peoples time or comfort are worth nothing"

You mention nothing about comfort, just wait times, which is essentially my point. Are people being left in extreme discomfort? If so, that is a problem. Health outcomes help paint that picture, and in most first world systems outcomes are good.

[glhaynes]

Should my children wait a year or more to have a specialist examine a chronic skin condition that thus far cannot be treated and causes severe itching?

That sucks for there to be long waits, but the alternative being evaluated (the USA's system) has lots of people not ever getting treatment.