i think i’ll wait a few posts before spilling (read venting) what i think about it.
Note: the Canadian gov’t does subsidize the price of meds, but it’s a little more complicated then you suggest. someone must reach their “deductible” - a different number depending on income - after that number the gov’t kicks in for the patient’s meds. Some meds are completely covered by health care, some (and some proceedures) are not and the customer has to pick up the whole tab.
The ugly truth is that AMERICANS are subsidizing cheaper meds in Canada (and around the world). Drug companies work with the Canadian bureaucracy to set the price of drugs at what the market will bear, in accordance with the maximum set by Canadian regulators. The price here is typically cheaper than in the states for these reasons. The fact that drugs are more expensive in the states (typically) allows for companies to make a profit and yet have lower prices all over the world.
i’ll address your other points later . . . .

I’ve seen a tv News show that had Canadians come south for surgery.

Wait… you say this on TV? The media may be manipulating you.

Ha, you are one smart Xi from Ohio.

Health care should be entirely free and Government run IMO. But thats a lot of money, it would require outrageous taxes. Maybe if we took out military out of some places where it shouldnt be we could pay for it.

Maybe we don’t need so many big, useless, expensive things like aircraft carriers. Do we really need big floating slabs of metal with missile targets painted on them? seriously, how long are these things going to last in an all out war?

@bossk:

Maybe we don’t need so many big, useless, expensive things like aircraft carriers. Do we really need big floating slabs of metal with missile targets painted on them? seriously, how long are these things going to last in an all out war?

Are you Joking here?

@Xi:

Anybody know how medical services are provided to Native Americans[NAs](Inuit,or whatever they call themselves in Canada)? Or do NAs even use the Canadian medical establishment?
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By the by, how’s the weather in Bob, :oops: ,I mean Nunavut this time of year? :P
Ohio State Motto : The Bucktoothed State :D

the First Nations people receive the same medical attention that other Canadians receive, roughly. If they are on reserves, then they are often flown out to tertiary care hospitals or secondary care hospitals depending on their illness/medical need. Same thing goes for the Inuit.
The problems are many with these particular groups as far as health goes. In general reserves are too small to require the services of a physician (never mind a hospital), so these people are often cared for by nurse practitioners (much the same as in other rural environs) - nurses who may prescribe, but usually have the backing of nearby doctors.
Urban Natives receive the same care as non-natives.
The only real difference is that their prescriptions are covered under NIHB (non-insured health benefits - a federal institution) whereas my prescriptions would be covered under pharmacare, a provincial jurisdiction.
Did this answer your questions? Something more specific i might have more facility with.

Just a few points to address with regards to this topic.

Demographics: Canada - pop 30337334, life expectancy: Male 75.3, female 81.3, infant morttality rate 5.7, per capita GDP: 25000, total health expenditures as % GDP 9.3%, public % of total health expenditures 66.7%, per captia total health expenditures $2095
The US - pop 267 954 764, l.e. male 72.8, female 79.5, infant mortality rate 6.55, per captita GDP 26600, total health expenditures as %GDP 14.0%, public % of total health expenditures 46.7%, per captial total helath expenditures $4090.

Just to illustrate - life expentancy and infant mortality are two of the most important markers of “health at a glance”. Now even tho’ Canada spends a much smaller percent of its GDP on health than America, all of its citizens as more than adequate insurance (covering nearly everything except elective plastic surgery and experimental/very new drugs), America has around 45 000 000 citizens without ANY health insurance, and another 44-45 000 000 citizens with inadequante health insurance (i.e. will not cover the entire hospital stay in many cases, etc.).
What does this mean? Well, Canada spends less public money on health (and yet health is covered over 66% by public money) where the US spends more public money on health (covering much less, i.e. 46.7% - the rest from private sources), and we have approximately half the per capita expenditures on health than the States, and yet our primary health markers are at least equal to those of the Americans.
Furthermore, Canadian Physicians (and nurses) are better trained than Americans (as evidenced by our performance on the American Board exams) and are regularly woo’d by many states.
When you have a system as efficient and proficient at health, somethings are going to suffer. Canadian physicians do not get paid nearly as much as Americans, so many of them pour across the border. Furthermore when you spend less, you have fewer toys (MRI’s, CT scans, etc.) and nurses so patients, rather than wait, will go south where they may pay for diagnostic (and elective) proceedures to have them done more quickly. In Canada it is impossible (in most practical respects) to pay for medical care aside from pharmaceuticals, and plastic surgery (not including physiotherapy, chiropractic etc.). So in effect, we have a 2-tier system due to our proximity to the states - those who wish to pay for a proceedure simply cross the border. All others stay here, and get things done for free - more slowly, however generally by the most competant physicians in the English speaking world.

note; i did not include British, Japanese or Australian figures, although i do have them - too much typing.

I like free healthcare, but the only problem is the people who abuse it and use it for stupid things like stubbed toes. The waiting can be horrendously long. Several hours just in the express line.

@EmuGod:

I like free healthcare, but the only problem is the people who abuse it and use it for stupid things like stubbed toes. The waiting can be horrendously long. Several hours just in the express line.

not enough family physicians means people go to the ER for these little things.
And don’t get me started on the price of bringing someone in from Swan River to Winnipeg for a tummy ache that disappears in a couple of hours blah blah blah.

Two words: Brain Drain.

Our system has too many specialists,
trains too many foreigners and then allows them to stay, instead of sending them home where they are needed,
free health care for illegal immigrants,
excessive unnecessary insurance in many cases such as
accident insurance, cancer insurance, dental insurance, and
too much ignorance…

This one.

So what seems to be the problem?