It's very similar in Canada, long waiting lists if you need something more serious, however at the same time it does have it's advantages. Last year when I had a fractured foot, I had about a dozen x-rays taken over the three month period and they didn't cost me one penny upfront. My mom who was living in The United States at the same time had bronchitis and had to get her chest x-rayed and I believe it cost her about 200 dollars or so. That said socialized medicine is not without it's problems. Canada struggles with theirs and they've got a population of 30 million, where as the United States has 300 million. That's a fair more amount of people who will need medical help. I think whether you like it or not, health care will become socialized within the next five years in America, I just hope that when it does, it doesn't follow suit with places like Canada and New Zealand with large waiting lists and sub par hospital conditions.
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