well... I have lived in both worlds... "Free healthcare" in canada and the US system. BOTH systems are severely broken.

read the latest on my step father's saga who has been severely ill for at least a year... can no longer work... can't even make his weekly Drs appts without being totally run down for days unable to even get off the couch. went in for lung surgery (his second in less than two months) and was kicked out of the hospital because they just didn't have room for him. a man who is 60 years old having more infection removed from his lungs than his doctor claims he has ever seen. well you can read the thread if you wish. It was a disaster.

he is still not back to normal. still not able to work, still not able to do more than cook a meal and sweep the floors without being totaly run down and still no closer to a diagnosis than he was a year ago and can't get the REAL care he needs because they just don't have room and he isn't going to die tomorrow.

people here can't afford to get the care and suffer from the same problems.... but making it "free" for everyone isn't going to save everyone. There HAS to be an inbetween.

they can't make it work properly in Canada with a FrACTION of the population and you may be thinking "well more people more money for taxes" well ... also think of it this way... more people to go to emergency and run to the doctor for every cough and sneeze and that IS what happens. when it becomes "free" people will go for EVERYTHING because they can. emergency rooms, hosiptal beds, doctors offices will become totally clogged. I went to emerg with mono one year... didn't know it was mono. severely swollen throat to the point I couldn't swallow and it was affecting my breathing. I waited TWELVE hours in emerg. My father insisted I had to be seen (I was a teen) I was in really bad shape. couldn't eat, coudl barely drink, trouble breathing he thought I was having an allergic reaction to something after going to the ONLY doctor in town that was taking new patients and she pushed me off with some antibiotics and an "OH sorry you will be fine here you go" as she did everytime I came to her.

i've seen both and with a larger population it just DOESN'T work either way. there HAS to be middle ground.

as for mammograms...

I will have one every year as soon as I can get them. it's MORE likely I will die from breast cancer than die from radiation. with large breasts and with my grandmother dying from cancer (not breast cancer though) I will get the testing when I can. I give myself regular exams but sometimes it doesn't show up as obviously as some think nor does it show up in the exact areas people thing.... can even be under the armpit. I am a large breasted woman and I DO and will continue to take it seriously whether I need to pay for it or not.