it means they don't have a family doctor.

For example, in Quebec, very few people have a traditional family doctor; instead, they get their services via the CLSC network of clinics.

Where I used to live (in the far north of the island of Laval) the local CLSC was three blocks away. Waiting times in the CLSC for an unscheduled visit typically range from one to four hours, depending on how busy they are and the seriousness of your problem. Of course, I've never gone there (either for myself or for my children) with a true life-threatening problem; those get resolved by an ambulance trip to the hospital.

The real problem we have is in waiting times for non-life-threatening problems, like hip replacements or cataract removal. Those can involve waiting for a very long time (eight to eighteen months, depending on where you live).

So, you're comparing apples to oranges; the rate of people who don't have a family doctor in Canada to the rate of people who have no health insurance of any kind in the US.

--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton                            jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca]                   [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada               [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------