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Also anecdotal, I had a situation in which I needed to get an MRI in 2020. While I was in Canada, the doctor quoted me about 6 months. I had to go to NYC for a week. While in NYC, I went to a walk-in clinic and they got an MRI scheduled for me the same day. With my US health insurance, I was out of pocket about $75 for the whole thing.

As much as Canadians like to crap on US healthcare, it does have its perks in certain situations.

There's a capital utilization story here, even aside from everything else; if the MRI machine was waiting and available, it would have gone unused otherwise; I suspect the Canadian one is running at airline percentages of use.

But it is far from universal. My daughter needs to see a pediatric gastroenterologist in Oregon, she isn't scheduled for an appointment until December (we were told this in May). So she has to wait ~7 months?

You can find a case of someone getting into a specialist or a surgery within 2 weeks in the US, but you can also find the opposite.

Anecdotally, I've got a 6 month wait to see a specialist in the US, and I have very good insurance.