I’ve lived in both Canada and the US. My grandma in Canada had to wait 9 months for a hip replacement. Even though the government provided help with paid aids, it was not a great situation.

My mom here in the states needs a hip replacement and she can’t afford it because she’s maxed Medicare.

You mentioned ambulance. My wife called an ambulance for our kid who tripped on something at a park and a rather hysterical person told her she needed to call an ambulance right away. Pressured, she did so; our kid was fine. But we then owed $3,500 for the ambulance. Though we were paying on a payment plan and never missed a payment, the bill got turned over to collections for some unknown reason. We got it sorted it out but it took about 15 hours of work to resolve and fix our credit.

I’ve found that my Canadian relatives complain often about the system but very few seem to truly understand what is good about that system.

Pick your poison. Like many things here in the US, healthcare in the US is great if you have money, bad if you don’t.