I find complaints about wait times for minor issues to substantially underplay the incredible waste, suffering, and death which happens in the US system. Yes, the NHS and similar systems are not perfect. But to conclude with "This disabused me of any notion that publicly-provided healthcare is automatically superior" is, to me, trying to put the two on an equal footing which they very much do not deserve.

Maybe I've misunderstood the point they're making, but it sure seems to be saying, well, we could stop bankrupting and killing people for no good reason, but you may want to reconsider, because you might end up waiting several weeks for a non-urgent x-ray.

I realize that even non-urgent conditions can cause great suffering. But how does that suffering compare to dying from an easily treatable condition because you couldn't afford a doctor? If you can fix the latter at the expense of the former, is that not superior?

Especially since the workaround for long wait times seems to be to pay for quicker private care. If you have that option, then is it actually worse at all? You go from "pay to be seen quickly, or die" to "pay to be seen quickly, or wait." Seems like an improvement.