I think Taurus is just teasing you folks a bit. (Nothing wrong with loving your country, though. I think you'll all agree.)

Both the U.S. and Canada have very high-quality health care, once you get access to it. And that's the challenge on both sides of the border.

If I understand it correctly (and correct me if I'm wrong), you can get services in the U.S. immediately if you can afford to pay cash. There is infinite capacity in the system, ready to go. But if you can't pay for it directly, or want to be reimbursed, you're rather at the mercy of whatever insurance plan you have. These act for all practical purposes as gatekeepers.

In Canada, nearly all services are paid for through public insurance (which is really means the government pays for it all, and we pay more in taxes). Here, the gatekeeper is the wait list, especially for specialists and non-emergency surgery, where there is only so much capacity. Yes, it has been an issue. It's slowly getting better, though granted it's not perfect.

But remember, the Canadian system is a publicly-funded system. When we as a country decided to stop deficit spending at the federal level and start paying down our national debt, there were sacrifices made across the country. Health care was hit pretty hard along with many other sectors. That's the big picture behind some of the stories you've heard.

So, each to his (or her) own. Each system will get you one way or another. Given the cost of health services, that's almost inevitable.