[joshlemer]

No, that does not follow. Just because the government aims to provide access to everyone doesn't mean that they do. 25% of British Columbians have no family doctor, and up to 60% find it difficult to get an appointment with one. Seeing a specialist can take a year, in many towns there's no doctor at all and the community has to get by with a nurses only. Canadians have no control and no choice when it comes to their health care, they are completely at the whim of the doctor who only wants to churn through as many appointments as he can, since he's paid on a per-appointment basis. We cannot exercise choice because the fact that we found any family doctor at all makes us one of the lucky ones and likely we can't get any other.

[caditinpiscinam]

My point was simply that the wait times in any medical system can be shortened by increasing prices. The fundamental problem of insufficient capacity remains; the burden is just shifted onto a smaller set of people.

I didn't mean to minimize the issues with Canada's medical system, and I can understand why there's so much frustration from people who have to deal with it.