Here in Canada, we're in exactly the same boat with our public medical system, which we call Medicare. There have been horror stories of people dying in waiting rooms, wait times in int ER over 20 hours, ambulances that don't come or show up 24 hours after the call, people being turned away when presenting for mental heath treatment (a couple years ago, a 16 year old girl was sent away from the hospital after speaking with a nurse about suicidal thoughts, she was dead that night). It's scary, but it's not surprising.