I live in Canada where everyone has medical coverage provided at reasonable cost (around $800.00/year), although what we have access to is not what it is cracked up to be. There are people who can't find a PCP taking new patients which leaves many to rely on walk-in clinics, long waiting periods to get in to specialists and to have tests/procedures done unless it is an emergency.
We can wait days just to have a broken bone attended to and months-years to have elective surgery like joint replacements or heart surgery. To see a neuro for the first time can be 2 years of waiting in some instances; and to call them up to speak with them, like it seems you can do in the USA is as rare as...use your imagination.
I waited nearly a year to see my MS neuro for the first time and to contact him now, I have to go through the MS clinic and wait days to weeks to get a reply back through them. He no longer wants to see me as I have refused to participate in his drug trials .

I’ve been following the problems that some of you are having with medical insurance coverage (or lack thereof), as well as the new Obama Health Care thing because I have friends in the USA (including all of you). It seems that both systems can be an inefficient, frustrating hassle. Not good when one is not feeling well in the first place.

I just wish that there was a happy medium between the two systems; where we didn’t have to worry about insurance coverage being out of a reasonable price range and where we could get the care we need when we need it.

With love, Erika