I thought Canadian health care was great! How can this be?

A practice I greatly abhor.

Well, at least the U.S. has things like the Mayo Clinic and Saint Jude Hospital.

They don't charge?

If Danny Boy is going to Mayo or St Jude...I think he/Canadian Government will be paying.

Mayo clinic is a non-profit organization.
All patients accepted for treatment at St. Jude are treated without regard to the family's ability to pay.

for others to have an operation.

That's very nice and generous of the donors.

Virtually all the hospitals I have had much contact with are non-profit. Almost all hospitals that have received certain government payments (ie: most of them) have a policy of accepting patients regardless of ability to pay.

That doesn't mean they don't expect most patients to pay, or that they won't try to collect the charge if they think the patient CAN pay.

I think it's a safe bet the Canadian PM will be getting a bill.

charitable foundations that support many hospitals. But you can hardly call the charitable few a dominant factor in the Health Care field. Nevertheless they are among the best examples of US Health Care.

The problem with Newfoundland and Labrador is that it is a relatively sparsely populated province, and may not have a large enough population to retain a staff of very good cardiovascular team there. There are areas in the US that have similar problems of doctor retention, and sufficient support for surgical teams. I remember a couple of documentaries (one about remote areas of Texas)on the issue before I even moved up here.

The other problem is that the surgical lists in Canada are tighter than those in the US. Because much more money goes into the US system, there is a surplus of services available. That's why a Canadian Premier with big bucks in his pocket books surgery in the US rather than in Toronto for example, where there are very good CV surgeons. He can get surgery time on short notice. Dr. Tirone David of the Mt.Sinai Hospital Toronto, turns away job offers to move to the States every year, because he would be working twice as hard and earning about 4 times the money, but wouldn't have time for his kids (that's from a newspaper article here about 15 years ago).

It's a good system here, but is regulated to a degree by the College of Physicians and Surgeons who keep the supply of Doctors limited so as to keep the fees structure higher. They are allowed to set the admissions rate to Universities, and regulate the acceptance of foreign trained doctors. About 20 odd years ago I met a Czech trained doctor and put him in touch with The Ontario Medical Association and a friend who was on the executive. Nothing happened despite his education.

Rob