Healthcare Alternatives....11/28

I went back in the draft status posts--ones in which I hadn't completed the thought process--and ran across this list of waiting periods for procedures under the Canadian healthcare system:

For Canada, waiting times:
General surgery: 14.3 weeks
Orthopedic
surgery: 40.3 weeks
Cardiovascular surgery: 8 weeks
Urology: 11.5 weeks
Internal medicine: 11.5 weeks
Radiation oncology: 5 weeks
Medical
oncology: 4.9 weeks.

Now in some cases, those are to get the initial evaluation, not treatment. Realize that we still have Canadians coming over the border to American facilities for diagnosis and treatment because it is so much faster. It might be cheaper in Canada, but if you die while waiting for an appointment, cost becomes less of a factor. (My caveat to the Obama healthcare initiatives.)