No. of Recommendations: 18
As a Canadian this flies in the face of my understanding of the US health care system - don't you get Medicare once you're 65? Perhaps Medicare standards are not up to standards in the private health care sector, but then again, if you're comparing the US with other countries as a place to retire, you should be comparing Medicare to other countries' public health care systems, like the care available in provinces in Canada or countries in Europe. My impression is that, while you won't get an MRI for a sore knee in Medicare, you won't get one in Canada either, and probably not in Germany.
A digression on a digression
A fun little fact about the US ("never socialism!") health care system is that the US government spends more per capita on public health care than the Canadian government does.
The then has a very large private system's costs on top of that.
Canada's system is certainly has corners that are between creaking and broken, but to be charitable that's not exactly rare around the world, and everybody is covered. Ultimately every country is faced with an unlimited demand for health care with finite supply, so it has to be rationed somehow: by price or by waiting list, generally, or a mix of the two. Or by connections or by clout.
Jim
