Overall the Canadian system is fairly decent. It definitely has problems and long wait times in some areas, but overall it's pretty decent imo. Joint replacements was a problem area mentioned, and that one is pretty big. A friend of mine messed up his hip in his mid 40's in a motorcycle accident. He won't be eligible for a hip replacement until his 60's, because he was told he'd wear the first one out if he got it that young, and apparently some people believe they're too expensive to be handed out willy-nilly to just anyone. Joints in general are an issue, my sister has been waiting several months to see a knee specialist, and still has a couple of months to go.
Another area where the U.S. has an advantage is some of the not so well known diseases or conditions, where treatments can be slow here in Canada, or other treatments are not even available yet. This also applies to cutting edge treatments for common diseases. Every so often you'll come across a fundraiser here looking to pay for someone's treatment for this or that in the U.S., usually a child.
One reason for a large number of Canadians travelling out of the country for "medical care" is dental work. It's hella expensive here, and not covered by healthcare where I am, and many people don't have supplemental insurance for it. So people go elsewhere for it, especially major, long-term non-emergency work. My own uncle travelled to Mexico to have a bunch of bridgework done. He spent $3200 plus the cost of the holiday for what would have cost him over $20k here. He was happy with the work.
As for Americans havin a 3x better chance to survive cancer than in any other country on the globe? I'd like to see stats backing that up, because I'm pretty sure they don't exist. I know our own local Children's Hospital treats American cancer patients, as well as other diseases. I would have to say Canadian survival rates would probably be very similar.
Overall, our system is pretty good and most people are happy with it. It could always be improved, but there is no system that can't be. Most of the complaints are about wait times, and the vast majority of -that- comes from cuts in federal spending to the provinces. When the agreement for universal health care was reached, the federal govt. and provinces both agreed to certain levels of funding. The federal govt. has not held up their end of the agreement.
Overall I personally am quite satisfied with healthcare here. Over the years, there have been efforts to "Americanize" aspects of our healthcare, such as being able to pay for certain tests or procedures on your own, to get them done quicker, which I personally am in favour of. But for the most part, that was shot down pretty quickly by the fed govt. Typical; they don't pay their bill, yet still want to tell us how to spend our own money. Nowadays though, you don't hear anyone bring that up, considering what a mess Obamacare is. I know two retired couples, both with dual citizenship, who would prefer living in the U.S. fulltime instead of just the winters and just visit back to Canada. Both, however, live in Canada their six months plus a day, just so they can keep healthcare. Both did that before Obamacare, so that wasn't a consideration.
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