U.S. vs. Canada

I have a friend that works at a rural hospital in Canada. Overall, she thinks that their health care system is very good. She says there is no paperwork for billing and scheduling an appointment to see a primary care physician only takes about 1-4 days. Other strengths would be that they have the freedom to choose their own family doctor and hospital in which they are treated. Their health care system also covers most services and they have the option of getting extra coverage for dental and prescriptions by going through employer benefits such as BlueCross. (They have to pay extra for those services) However, she says a major problem there is the shortage of staff which effects wait times and creates an increased patient to nurse ratio. She’s also noticing a trend where more people are being encouraged to go with an insurance company to get services as the government cuts down on coverage.