You have my sympathies.

I've been hearing similar stories about American healthcare all my life. I'm not sure what I can say, except that Americans are a weird bunch with a weird fear of nationalized health care. Really, the only problem we've ever had with it is basically because the numbnuts human-worshippers insist on bringing foreigners in to leech off our system (and I'm sure the Europeans hear that complaint.)

And yes, sometimes those foreigners are American. The hospitals in Windsor, Ontario are (or were, before 9/11) no stranger to poor Detroiters who got dumped in a downtown park at night for to be picked up by police (it's been illegal to be in parks after 10 since the late 70s or so). Now, there are always signs that say how much a foreigner is supposed to have to pay, but get real, social services is called immediately with cases like that, and they have a way to set things up with OHIP. Basically, a government agent getting one part of the government to pay another.

Can you guys get away with making "good faith" payments of a buck a month? (Or would it be more like 10 bucks now, because inflation?)\