I hope it gets sorted out. At some point, countries figure out that a healthy population is more productive. I used to travel in the U.S. often and wherever I went, I was asked about Canadian healthcare, and I can only speak for Ontario and OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) since healthcare is under each province's jurisdiction. It's not perfect but overall we like it and the provinces do actively work on solving the problems. One of the challenges we face are American medical companies, wanting to enter our market, actively undermining our system.

The biggest misconceptions are that it's entirely owned by the public, that it is free to everyone (such as visitors), and that we don't have extra health insurance. None are true. To receive the free services, I need my magic OHIP card. Doctors' office, clinics, etc, are privately owned, and extra health insurance is often a company benefit. For instance, it might pay to upgrade you to a semi-private or private hospital room vs a ward. Now a ward at my hospital is 4 beds to a room so I don't think of that as torture.