Following-up on Galen’s entry on Canadian vs US health care, comes an article from the Globe and Mail that discusses a study comparing satisfaction with both systems:

Americans are more enthusiastic about their free-market health-care system than Canadians are about their publicly funded medicare system, but Canadians’ care needs are actually better met than those of their U.S. counterparts.

The main beef with the system in the U.S. is the cost, while in Canada, the principal complaint is the wait for services. Spending on health is $4,270 (U.S.) per capita in the U.S. and $2,250 in Canada. That’s 13 per cent of the gross domestic product in the U.S. and 9.1 per cent in Canada. Despite the big difference in costs, there are only minor differences in use of services, and in health outcomes, the survey found.