"Re. the Canadian medical system, why do I read stories about people w coming to the US for surgery because the wait is so long in Canada."

I read the same stories about people from the US wanting to come to Canada.

I had a totl hip replacement. The wait was a bit under six months. However, I had already waited for ten years to put off getting it when I in my early forties, so the wait wasn't all that much.

There are problems for sure with our health care system. As there are with every health care system I have ever known about. Is it perfect? No. Is it available for everyone? Yes.