Democrats and the mainstream media have been gloating over the reports of a higher than expected number of Obamacare enrollments in the opening days or open enrollment for 2018.

However, even with large numbers for open enrollment, there is no certainty that many of these people will still have the same healthcare plan by the end of 2018. There are numerous factors to consider with one of the main factors being the uncertain future of Obamacare or whatever Congress does to fix, repeal or replace Obamacare. Another major factor to consider is that under the current Obamacare system, a growing number of insurance providers are dropping various policy programs or withdrawing from Obamacare altogether because they are losing too much money, even with double-digit premium increases.

One thing is certain and that’s the longer Obamacare is in place, the more people seem to support and like it, even though overall enrollment is still not nearly as high as the CBO predicted. Note, this is the same CBO that predicted 26 million Americans would lose their healthcare coverage over the next ten years. They grossly overestimated Obamacare and most likely are greatly overestimating once again.

In the meantime, Sen. Bernie Sanders and a group of Democratic politicians continue to push a single-payer healthcare system. In Sanders’ cases, it is being called Medicare For All. First of all, Medicare is not free, nor does it cover nearly as much as many people would like.

Sanders has been pointing to the government run single-payer healthcare system in Canada as an example for what he envisions for the United States.

So, is Canada’s healthcare system really that great?

I have friends in Canada who tell me that for routine medical issues like checkups and general things, the system works pretty well, unless you live in a larger city. People in larger cities often have difficulty seeing a doctor in a timely manner. One of my friends in Canada told me that the system seems to work on the concept that if it’s not serious, you can wait and if it is serious, go to the emergency room and wait.

They also told me that it’s often extremely difficult to get in to see a specialist in many areas. There aren’t that many specialists and those that are there, are overwhelmed with patients.

A recent report said that a family practice anesthetist in Kingston, Ontario says she is used to hearing that patients she refers to specialists, often have to wait on average 2 ½ years to see the specialist. This doctor was recently blown away when she referred a patient to a neurologist at Kingston General Hospital. The doctor received a letter from the neurologist’s office saying her patient will have to wait 4 ½ years to see the neurologist and if that is unacceptable, then try referring the patient onto a neurologist in Ottawa or Toronto. Ottawa is a little over a 2-hour drive from Kingston and Toronto is about a 3-hour drive. Even then, there is no guarantee of how long her patient will have to wait to see a neurologist.

I’ve heard similar long waiting times for many medical issues in Great Britain where they also have a government single-payer healthcare system. A friend in the UK had to wait 7 months to have her gall bladder removed. During that time, she lived with the intense pain.

This is what Bernie Sanders wants for the United States.