a few years ago there were a lot more americans flooding to ontario from nearby states for the health care they couldn't get at home. there was a brisk traffic in faked ontario medicare cards. there was a crack down, but wierdly(i say that because the hypocratic oath doesn't mean much in america any more) ontario hospitals will not turn away a person who is really ill , if they show up at emergency, no matter where they come from. they might not get medicare coverage now but they would get a provincial welfare coverage program, to protect the hospitals need for fees. however they get treatment.

the estimate io read in the toronto star was that over fifty thousand americans had faked medicare cards for treatment in ontario. the truth is that's a lot more than the "flood" of canadians to the usa for health care.

the last few times i've been in the us people are amazed that my drugs are covered by the health care system(or were in ontario)the ontario system caps what you have to pay each year then the drug plan kicks in. i like our health care system. its never let me down. if i have to wait occasionally who cares. when i had a broken bone they treated me in about a hour from the time i showed up at emergency. and no wallet biopsy. i had a meeting with a bone specialist to determine if i needed a pin in about two hours and it was set and i was out the door four hours after srriving. a friend of mine had a bone break in florida and he was out two days later with a bill for $ sixteen thousand dollars. he negotiated them down some but it was ten grand before he went home. he didn't see a specialist the first day there.