No normal user of the system is mandated to use any particular lab provider -- a doctor gives you a requisition form and you bring it wherever you want. There a

No normal user of the system is mandated to use any particular lab provider -- a doctor gives you a requisition form and you bring it wherever you want. There aren't that many options, generally, but there are as many as the market will bear (and as new upstarts grow they get swallowed up by the incumbents). This particular person's issue has to do with immigration. Do you really think a walk-in doctor "could care less"? What a ridiculous statement. They're just as professionally governed and concerned as any doctor. "Did you know I'm not allowed to go get my blood tested privately" There are private blood testing services in Canada, though it's a small market given that the workflow of labs is overwhelmingly geared towards the public market. Most labs will happily provide you your own blood test results (a cursory search of both LifeLabs and Dynacare, two of the most common, show their patient portals). "I often see Americans pointing to Canada's system as a shining example" Canada is almost always the punching bag for the US -- usually based upon lies or the singular complainer, for instance I and my family have had a family doctor everywhere we've lived, have always had a great experience, etc -- and of course -- like every complex system in the world -- it has flaws. But it isn't as good as France's system, or a couple of others.