At one point my mother needed a medical procedure fairly urgently (if I recall, it was angioplasty, but this was years ago and I may be mistaken). To our relief she got the treatment the same day it was requested.

But this was not a case of the Canadian medical system working--the reason she got the treatment was that her doctor was able to get the medical technician to stay late, after hours, and administer the treatment. Had that not been the case, my mother would have gone on a waiting list some 2 weeks long. Her doctor made it plain to us that we were very lucky, and the whole episode could easily have gone badly had that technician made a different decision.

I recall that despite an overload demand for the treatment, the facility operated only during business hours. The provincial government, which funded the facility, was unable/unwilling to pay for additional hours of operation. Hence, a waiting list.

So the Canadian socialized healthcare system failed my mom; it was only because of people's willingness to work outside the system that my mother got the treatment she needed.

I don't want a government pencil-pusher decided when, how, and at what level of quality my family can get medical treatment. I've been there, and I didn't like it.

Bowser's absolutely correct, though, in pointing out that private healtchcare has problems. Private insurance companies can be real pricks. But having lived with both socialized and private health care, all I can offer is that--so far--I prefer the latter.