Coming from a country with socialized healthcare, this reads like a strawman
The waiting times aren't a constant, it's weighted based on your needs
If you have an acute but not life threatening problem, you can either book a time with a nurse or a doctor (usually you'll see them in a couple of days at the worst times), and depending on the seriousness of the issue you'll get bumped up in the queue, or you can go to the ER and wait for a few hours
Operations like surgeries can take months before you get them, but once again if the issue is serious enough to debilitate and prevent you from functioning in your day-to-day life, you'll get bumped in the queue
And most importantly, if it's life threatening, you'll get a free helicopter ride to a hospital on the other side of the country if you need a specialist that's not available closer to you, and they'll move mountains to save you
The cost is usually something like $30-$40 for a night in the hospital (all-inclusive, I spent one night in hospital last year, got three blood works, five consultations with two different doctors, ultrasound and four meals, would have cost the same if I got an MRI or a helicopter ride)
The biggest actual downfalls of socialized healthcare I've experienced are dental care (not free, but still heavily subsidized) and mental health (the worst waiting times, but even then it's mostly due to lack of mental health professionals, the care itself is subsidized for the first three years)
And get this, if you want something faster or better, you can still pay some extra and go for a private provider (the services are like 100-300% more expensive, but the baseline is still in the range of tens or hundreds of dollars, not thousands)
And the most important part is the medicine, insulin is like $200/100ml without government subsidies, if you have a prescription it's less than $100 for a year's supply
Coming from a country with socialized healthcare, this reads like a strawman
The waiting times aren't a constant, it's weighted based on your needs
If you have an acute but not life threatening problem, you can either book a time with a nurse or a doctor (usually you'll see them in a couple of days at the worst times), and depending on the seriousness of the issue you'll get bumped up in the queue, or you can go to the ER and wait for a few hours
Operations like surgeries can take months before you get them, but once again if the issue is serious enough to debilitate and prevent you from functioning in your day-to-day life, you'll get bumped in the queue
And most importantly, if it's life threatening, you'll get a free helicopter ride to a hospital on the other side of the country if you need a specialist that's not available closer to you, and they'll move mountains to save you
The cost is usually something like $30-$40 for a night in the hospital (all-inclusive, I spent one night in hospital last year, got three blood works, five consultations with two different doctors, ultrasound and four meals, would have cost the same if I got an MRI or a helicopter ride)
The biggest actual downfalls of socialized healthcare I've experienced are dental care (not free, but still heavily subsidized) and mental health (the worst waiting times, but even then it's mostly due to lack of mental health professionals, the care itself is subsidized for the first three years)
And get this, if you want something faster or better, you can still pay some extra and go for a private provider (the services are like 100-300% more expensive, but the baseline is still in the range of tens or hundreds of dollars, not thousands)
And the most important part is the medicine, insulin is like $200/100ml without government subsidies, if you have a prescription it's less than $100 for a year's supply