Very true. The wait times have increased and are still an issue in some medical conditions. But many people need operations and opt to go to the states to have it done immediately without waiting. It costs a bundle of money in the U.S. but they don't care and obviously have lots of cash on hand. And there are some specialized operations that can only be done in certain specialized U.S. hospitals. Plenty of hospitals send patients to the U.S. for these specialized operations. Don't know of anyone "Fleeing" though,lol. An aging population is the main cause as older people require far more hospital care. My doctor told me that over 80% of all health care costs in a persons lifetime will be incurred by the average person in the last 10-20 years of their lives. Germany and France have a vastly improved version of universal health care comparatively. Britain had similar problems as Canada but have tweaked their health care system and made major improvements overall. But you wont lose everything you've worked for all your life due to health issues here either no matter what. That to me and most here is far more important than waiting a few weeks for treatment regardless of any pre-existing condition. I know a lot of Americans that have landed immigrant status came here mainly for the health care they couldn't afford in the U.S. No holy grail for health care.