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I expect this sort of thing in the US but I am still surprised and amazed that it is possible for Canadians to be in a situation where they have no primary care physician or have to travel hundreds of KM to visit one, that communities can be so severely understaffed by medical professionals, and that people (in particular children) are getting turned away like this. I liked your suggestion that there be a mandatory minimum time for new doctors to have to serve in understaffed communities in their province to "pay back" the subsidized medical education they received, before heading off to the US to make loads more money.

Canada's healthcare system is great... as long as you don't get sick. It won't be getting better anytime soon either since the baby-boomers are on their way. Watch the system really grind to a halt when that happens.

The only fix I can see is to adopt a two-tiered system. If properly regulated, it'll help remove some strain from the universal system. It's the only way...other than the Feds taking over healthcare from the provinces which will never happen. You should see the inter-province billing b.s. Tracy had to deal with after seeing a doctor in B.C. this spring.

The British have a two-tiered system that works quite well. If we were to adopt a new model, I would be in favour of looking at their system rather than moving towards for-profit healthcare run by insurance companies, like they have in The States.

One thing I would like to see happen in Canada before we start privatizing, though, is to make the doctors we educate in our universities pay back some of their subsidized education (they are studying at facilities partially funded by the federal and provincial governments, after all) by having to work in an underserviced area for a minimum amount of time after graduating. We do it for our military, we do it for teachers willing to teach in Aboriginal communities...I think some sort of National Service program for medical students isn't entirely out of line.

I am one of the too few and very fortunate people in the US to have full and comprehensive medical insurance but I still abhore this system. It is disgusting that decisions on whether and how to treat a person is dictated by what kind of medical coverage they have (or whether they have any at all). I've actually had doctors say to me "You have really great insurance; I'm going to prescribe antibiotic X, which is much more expensive, but way more effective in treating the infection you have (although I have a different rant entirely on the over-prescribing of antibiotics in general). I also suspect that the level of diagnostics and treatments that have been ordered for me over the course of the years (ultrasounds for sports injuries and pregnancy concerns; x-rays for neck and shoulder pain; IV fluids for dehydration from stomach viruses) would NOT have been made available to me had I NOT had the coverage that I do which upsets me. I can't count number of times I've had daycare workers at Bobbin's daycare ask me "My child has symptoms X and it looks a lot like what Bobbin had; what did Bobbin's doctor say about it when you took her?" because a trip to the pediatrician for their own first hand diagnosis would cost them too much money. I count my blessing every single day for the coverage I've got. It shouldn't be this way though. In particular, for the age groups that are most vulnerable and in need of proactive and preventative medical care like just plain regular checkups and screenings.

Heather, Sarah very well said as always! I'm not in favour of an American-style system that I'm absolutely sure of. As you mentioned Sarah, other countries with a universal health care systems must be doing things differently... let's take a look and make the necessary changes to our system. The way I see it, at this point it's easier for me to get my car fixed than it is to get myself fixed if something breaks down. That's a problem. If I have $500 set aside, it shouldn't matter if I want to spend it on a new set of tires, a vacation or an MRI. The option needs to be there. Everything we buy is a good or a service, and I see health care as another service. Unfortunately as you've seen Sarah, universal health care isn't delivering on that promise. Here's my fix... let's start cloning doctors... forget the sheep...

Wow Sarah, that's really scary stuff. My wife's sister is currently living in upstate New York and was recently bitten by a tick and became quite ill. I was amazed to hear that she had to drive herself almost 200km to see a doctor and she considered herself lucky that she actually got in to see him. She says that you do not want to get sick in the USA.

People in Australia are always complaining about our health system but I've never heard of anyone being turned away from a local doctor as a new regular patient. I'd guess that there are about a dozen family clinics or private practices (and a small hospital) within a 15 minute drive of my house and we live in a coastal town about 100km from Melbourne. There are definitely shortages in more rural and remote areas but nothing like what you have described as far as I know.
I went to the doctor about 2 weeks ago and took my son just the other day. I had to wait 2 days to get an appointment for me but for my son I called in the morning and got an appointment at 5pm the same day. So sometimes you have to wait a couple of days to see your preferred doctor but if it's urgent you can always get in to see someone.
A typical consultation costs about $40-$50 which you pay at the time then you lodge the account with Medicare and get about half of that reimbursed. Low income earners qualify for a health care card which means they pay a lot lower consulation fee and most prescriptions only cost them about $5. Otherwise most drugs are on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) which means they are heavily subsidised by the federal government (though health/hospitals are generally state funded) and a typical prescription will cost $15 - $30.
I did get some new cream (for the little sunspots the harsh Aussie sun has inflicted on my anglo/irish skin) that wasn't on the PBS and it cost $100 for a 6 week treatment.
About 50% of Aussies have private health cover, the rest are covered by Medicare. Everyone pays .5% of their taxable income as an annual medicare levy. If you don't have private health cover you pay 1.5%. A typical family top cover policy would be about $3,000 per annum.
My nephew fractured his skull playing football a couple of months ago and had to have an emergency operation. My brother has full cover and he said that he was told by one of the hospital staff that if he was just on Medicare he would have been treated exactly the same except he probably wouldn't have got the top surgeon that he did because of his insurance. Thankfully my nephew is fine - even though he now has a titanium plate in his head can you believe he is thinking about playing footy again next season - idiot!
Anyway, I thought you may be interested in a few anecdotes about our health system.

PS - I just remembered that I had an infected finger when we were in Niagra Falls 10 years ago. We just walked into a local doctor's clinic and he saw me almost straight away - I remember being impressed at the time. Although he did seem more interested in chatting about kangaroos and the barrier reef than looking at my pussy (that's a tricky word to spell) finger!