[sjwalter]

Lack of socialized healthcare? The USA has at least 3 times as many people on government healthcare than the entire population of Canada (Medicare, Medicaid, the VA). The USA has the second- third-largest government-run healthcare system in the world.

As a person who lived 20 years in Canada and 14 in the USA, I'll take the USA every day of the week--and for the past year I've paid for my own health insurance directly.

Canada's healthcare system is run by bureaucrats who prioritize many items ahead of citizen health.

Here's one example: A family member is a police officer. While I was visiting home, in Ontario, he was hit with some insane shoulder-related pain. This is one tough guy and he was reduced to tears--some kind of nerve damage or something.

The hospital in Canada told him he needed an MRI. And that it would take between 4 and 6 months til there was an available slot. They gave him a prescription for strong opiates to manage the pain during his wait.

I drove him over the border to Buffalo, shelled out $500, and he had his MRI in less than half an hour. The drive was longer than the wait in the radiology clinic.

There are tradeoffs in every situation. I think Canada's healthcare system is better in one exact way: Nobody's bankrupted of their financial wealth due to healthcare. But many many many Canucks are bankrupted of their actual health, their time, their human wealth, due to healthcare.

[EL_Loco]

>shelled out $500, and he had his MRI in less than half an hour.

What happens if you're poor and don't have anyone to turn to for the $500? Will it take the same time to get a free MRI as it does in Canada? Can you get it fro free at all in the US? (Real question, I don't know how it works and am curious)

[munk-a]

It's unfortunately impossible to answer this question as it relies on a number of factors. If you are now in the military you're going to have an easy time through tricare - if you were previously in the military you should be able to get an MRI for free from the VA, but you may have an easier time utilizing medicaid or, if you're old enough to qualify, medicare. Additionally, if you're considering getting coverage through medicaid there are generally a wide number of requirements for eligibility that can range from trivial (I was automatically enrolled in green mountain care when I was an out of work student in VT) to extremely onerous work seeking requirements in some southern states. Medicare, if you're old enough to be eligible, is usually pretty guaranteed but you'll need to be near retirement age to access it.

The TL;DR is that you may be able to get it for free, but there's a very large proportion of the population that fails to qualify for medicaid and also won't have the financial stability to float $500 out of pocket and, if they happened to get one, wouldn't be able to afford any follow up treatment.

But I totally agree that the US system is an absolute breeze if you've got money to spare.