Canadian approval of new treatments generally follows FDA approval within a few weeks, and once approved, treatments are available to all Canadians. There is no system of rationing in Canada. From my own experience watching patients come into the emergency room at several Canadian hospitals, I can say that this is not true. One criticism of the Klein government is that, as part of its push toward private medicine, it has cut funding in order to create long lines. Obviously - about 48 million of them.
Patient dies waiting for cardiac surgery.
The delay was for six weeks, caused again because facilities were not available. The Citizen's for Better Medicare's advertising campaign is a fraudulant sham filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Americans are free to select whatever health care system they wish, however inequitable and inefficient. However their depiction of Canada's system as an Orwellian nightmare does a disservice both to Americans looking for something better and to the many thousands of Canadians whose lives have been saved by public health care. Indeed, as a Canadian, I resent the attempts by American companies and organizations to try to destroy our system.