[TomB16]

In our travels we have met many Americans who wanted to retire at that age. The big issue preventing it for many that we met was the cost of medical insurance. It was not uncommon to hear number like $1600USD per month and on @ few occasions even more.

Good friends and an extremely nice family were paying $11,000 per month for health coverage, back in 2014. He ran a small renovation business and he had to work hard to make the health care payments. RE renovation was booming back then so he was able to cut it but just barely. Also, the entire family is obese and I think every one of them has type 2 diabetes, among other things.

He was a victim of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA reduced the cost of insurance to most Americans but it screwed over small business owners. Suffice to say, he was not a big fan of the policy.

I've never followed up to learn how that is going. I'm too scared to ask. He is still in business, though.

 

[TomB16]

I think both Canada and the US have a horrible but much different situation regarding health care. In the US health care can bankrupt you unless you are extremely wealthy. In Canada, if you lose your doctor your screwed.

For sure.

In both cases, we are told we have the best health care in the world and most of us seem to believe it.

In order to understand the ridiculous amount of overhead and bureaucracy in Canadian health care, I think people need to go to another country for treatment. Literally any country other than Canada or US. Even if someone just has a splinter removed in Panama, they will see a system in which you can walk in, see a physician in a very short amount of time, and leave after paying a comically low bill.