Canadian health care system: unspeedy treatment.

Economist David Henderson, who grew up in Canada, once remarked that it has the best health-care system in the world -- if you have only a cold and you're willing to wait in your family doctor's office for three hours. But some patients have more than a simple cold -- and the long waits they must endure before they get access to various diagnostic tests and medical procedures have been documented for years. Montreal businessman George Zeliotis, for example, faced a year-long wait for a hip replacement.

"Where Would You Rather Be Sick?" By David Gratzer, Wall Street Journal Online, 6/15/06 (subscription).