How happy are you Canadians with your health care up there?
Mostly happy, most of the time.
Quality of care has been much like US where I have also lived and been treated.
Cost to patient is much lower in Canada. I had a severe multi-year eye disease that began while living in the States and by the time I had worked my way to the top specialists in Seattle, they recommended that I go to a surgeon in Canada. He was the best at treating my condition, and the docs in Seattle changed their treatment of similar patients to fit what he recommended.
OTOH, have abandoned docs on both sides of the border in the course of my lifetime because I had no confidence in them. Regency Blue Shield in the US dropped my health insurance coverage in the early stage of my multi-year disease and my loathing for that company is deep.
It can be slow in Canada but if diagnosed as severe, you usually go to the head of the line. My severe eye problem moved me to the front of the line. OTOH a friend with breast cancer was put on a waiting list so she went to the US. She had been treated and was healed from surgery before she would have gotten her first specialist appointment in Canada. She would probably have been dead by then. She lived another vigorous 9 years after having been given 6 months.
Re giving up your surgery date: When 3 weeks out from my most dicey eye surgery in a series, the surgeon asked if I would give up my operating room reservation to a severe case from Israel if the lady could get visa etc. to get here in time. I gave up my slot, and in the extra month I waited my eye healed far more than any of us anticipated making the surgery much less harzardous to recovering my sight.
Thank you for giving up the slot to somone evidently in greater need. Another anecdote: Six months ago my wife was in severe back pain making her an invalid. She was put on an urgent Canadian waiting list of 3-6 months to get a needed MRI, with no promise of any time frame. We paid a private MRI clinic, made an appointment at 9:00 AM and had it all done with copies in our hand by 3:00 PM, and a doctor's interpretation of the results within 48 hours.
IMO the Canadian system is pretty good but on a trajectory to unsustainability. The US version of socialized medicine is an avalanching disaster getting worse all of the time.
