I'm a Canadian who just traveled to the US for the first time in 7 years. I never realized how fucked your healthcare system was.

A few facts before you wonder why I needed to go to the US: <br><br>1. Why I went: I needed to have my teeth fixed up, as I had a bunch of problems with my jaw and teeth that make eating difficult. For context I live in Toronto, and half these dentists I went to see didn't even have appointments available until 2025.<br><br>2. Where I went: I went to a small town on Lake Michigan. Thought it would be a nice way to spend a week, fix my teeth up, and see what rural America looks like. I've been to some big cities, and have friends down there, but we didn't really talk about this stuff.<br><br>So, I was chatting with my dentist's assistant the first day I went in. She was a very nice lady, probably in her 50s. I asked where she was from, expecting her to say somewhere in Michigan, and she said she was from the town (let's call it Potatoville).<br><br>I then asked if she still has family in the town, and she said her brother had died 2 years ago.<br><br>I'm not somebody who likes to pry, and I'm not somebody who likes to talk about morbid shit, but she started opening up about what happened. Her brother had gotten COVID, and needed to go to the hospital for it. She described how he had to remortgage his house to be able to afford treatment. She described how the government helped pay for some of the bill, but it wasn't enough. In the end, she said her brother had to sell his house because of the debt, and in order to repay it, he needed to take on more work. He then died from a heart attack from overexertion at the age of 52.<br><br>As somebody who is Canadian, this was fucking shocking. If I get COVID and need to go to the hospital, I don't need to remortgage my house. I just walk into the hospital, and I get treatment. This is how it should be, and this is what every tile in the US should be fighting for.<br><br>Later on in the day, I was talking to another lady in her 50s (not the dentist or assistant) who works there, letting her know how bad my teeth are. She said she feels sorry for me because I'm going to need a lot of work - I then joked "well, at least I don't have to pay for it". She then told me how she had always thought healthcare would be great, but it's not. It's a fucking scam, and she's stuck with $40000 in debt for having a heart attack 8 years ago. She then told me how she's living paycheck to paycheck, and can barely afford food.<br><br>I then told her that she would never have this problem in Canada, and that it's dehumanizing as hell to make people choose between not eating and dying.<br><br>She broke down and cried, and then told me how she always wondered what it would be like to have healthcare. Yeah, it's not perfect, and I'm not a fucking idiot, I realize there's drawbacks. But holy shit, at least we don't have to choose between dying and not eating. At least we can go to the hospital if we get sick.<br><br>I've been thinking about these two women and their stories for the last week. Seriously, fuck the US healthcare system.<br><br>EDIT: Holy shit this blew up. I just want to say, I'm not saying that healthcare is perfect in Canada, there are huge issues, but at least we don't have to fucking sell our homes and go hungry to get treatment. At least nobody goes bankrupt from needing treatment. It is fucked.<br><br>If you're wondering why I didn't go to a public dentist, I had a very specific condition that needed to be treated by a specialist, and there is a waitlist. Only option was to go out of country for the time being.