Don't forget that in Canada it's illegal to be a private medic. Medical services are ostensibly free, but rationed through queues. If you have a medical condition that's not immediately threatening, you may find yourself waiting for years for treatment, or have to go across the border to buy it.
That's not correct. There are private clinics who essentially claim the costs of their services from the government as though they were an insurance company. Costs that can't be recouped in full are passed on to the consumer or insurance providers, or you can be referred to a public hospital where the same service may be provided for free.
As for waiting times, you may find yourself waiting for years but it's highly unlikely. The median time for surgery in Canada is 4 weeks.
As a Canadian, the stuff that I see other people telling _me_ about my healthcare system makes me upset.
As others have said, it's not illegal to be private in Canada.
Everyone who seeks medical attention at a hospital is sent through triage, you are right. If you don't have a life threatening problem you won't be treated first, but saying "sometimes people wait a years for treatment" is just hilariously misleading.
Canada has a public health insurance program. Medical services are privately provided except for hospitals which usually are partially government subsidized on top of the health fees due to the high capital costs of building them.
That's not a requirement of such a system, though; France has a dual public/private system, where everyone is guaranteed service at the public system, but well-off people who wish to pay extra can purchase private care.
That's true of the UK system too. People get public treatment, but can go private if they wish. There are some restrictions on novel cancer medications if those are shown to be both expensive and minimally effective. I don't know if it's a good thing that dying people are protected from high pressure selling of pharmaceutical companies or whether the government should just allow people to spend tens of thousands of pounds on medication that may not extend their life and may not improve (and may decrease) their quality of life for the remaining weeks they have.
