That's about the size of it all right. It is "ALWAYS" about the money. Or more importantly "WHO IS PAYING THE MONEY". In the U.S. I constantly hear people complaining of being refused health care coverage due to a variety of issues such as "pre-existing conditions" and other such conditions. In Canada they can't refuse you for such things BUTTTTTTTTTTTT what they can do here is tell you there is a shortage of specialists,or nurses, or they are all on holidays, or there is no operating rooms presently available with the required qualified staff presently, etc etc.

Bottom line is this: WHOEVER is paying the bill whether it's an insurance company in the U.S. or a government agency in Canada they want to pay for your health care much the same as you want to pay "TAXES". So long as everyone understands that fact we can all try to work around it somehow. But that's about it in a nutshell. You do what you can to avoid paying taxes and the health care payers have the exact same mindset and do what they can to avoid paying for your health care! Like it or not it makes sense.