This is Planet Money from NPR.

When I first moved to New York from Canada back in 2000, I went to visit a park and I made

the mistake of sitting down in the grass and something bit me.

You know, in New York, that's probably the best thing that could happen to you sitting

on the grass.

So the bite got worse and I didn't have any health insurance, but I had to go see a doctor.

So I went to a clinic in my neighborhood and they were going to charge me like a lot

of money.

Yeah, welcome to America.

They were going to charge me a lot of money.

And I was not used to paying money to go see a doctor.

So the whole thing was like super foreign.

They would try to explain to me what was happening and I did not understand.

And I would talk to my friends and people about what was going on.

And I was like trying to figure it out.

And they're like, yeah, but isn't this better than what you had in Canada?

And they would say things like, you know, I thought Canadians waited forever to go see

a doctor and I thought Canadians couldn't, you know, get the treatments that they needed.

And I will always remember this detail.

They would say Canadians die in hallways.

They die lying on gurneys in the hallways of hospitals waiting for treatment.

And the people that said this to me were not conspiracy-minded types.

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