Our grandson is ill. Last week he spent two nights in hospital. He had blood work, an x-ray, a couple of prescriptions and was seen by three doctors, one of whom was a pediatrician. The treatment suggested is taking effect and he should be OK soon. At the original point of entry into the Canadian health care system - the emergency room at our local hospital - our daughter produced his Health Card. The only focus of our daughter's experience with her son's illness was finding out what's wrong and how to treat it. There was never any question about payments, insurance, filling out forms or getting permission from anybody else.
It is mystifying how Americans can tolerate a society that treats health care as another marketplace, rather than a basic right in an advanced society. I used to think that Canadians and Americans were quite similar, but I don't any more.
