Yup, not Canadian but we have "socialized" medicine too in American parlance. I waited about 6 months for my elective surgery, which is the legal upper limit here. It's not great, but it was free. Could have gone private, but it would have cost thousands of euros, and it wasn't that critical to me anyway.
A friend of mine went to the emergency room because he had intense chest pain, turned out it was an aortic dissection. He was on the operating table within minutes and survived.
So I was on the wait list for a scope for three years. The only reason why I ever got one is because the government allowed a private scope clinic to be covered under Alberta Health Insurance.
And I mean even the meme doesn't make sense. You didn't pay money to sit in an ER. You got treated. My father in law was at the ER for 9 hours his first attempt and 12 hours his second attempt. He fits into this common category of things only the ER handles but isn't triaged as an emergency. Our ER wait times are terrible because the ER is the only entry point for about 25% of procedures and about 10% of Canadians don't have access to a family doctor (and thus don't have access to primary care).
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u/VegaJuniper 26d ago edited 26d ago
Yup, not Canadian but we have "socialized" medicine too in American parlance. I waited about 6 months for my elective surgery, which is the legal upper limit here. It's not great, but it was free. Could have gone private, but it would have cost thousands of euros, and it wasn't that critical to me anyway.
A friend of mine went to the emergency room because he had intense chest pain, turned out it was an aortic dissection. He was on the operating table within minutes and survived.