Americans and Canada medical tourism
The cost of health care is
a widely debated and heated discussion in most developed countries in
the world.
Advocates for low-income
patients want to make sure that they have access to the same quality of
care that more affluent patients would.
 
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While on the other hand,
skilled doctors, nurses, researcher and other professionals in the
medical industry do deserve to be fairly compensated for their time and
expertise. For patients looking for a way to get the procedures they
are looking for, all they want is quality and a fair price they can
afford. It is difficult to find middle ground that everyone can agree
on.
More and more American
patients are turning to Canada for a solution to their dilemma. There
are a lot of cold hard facts that explain the reasons for this.
Firstly, the average cost for a procedure or a hospital stay in Canada
is half of what it would cost in America. Mostly because of their
socialized medial care system. This same logic applies to prescription
medication.
It's not uncommon to hear
stories about senior citizens or other patients on high cost
maintenance drugs, driving over the Canadian/American boarder to buy
them.
They are in every way the
same drugs and in many cases, manufactured by the same companies. But,
Canada's system has eliminated a lot of the overhead costs that drive
the cost medical care higher in America.
When you take a look at the
statistics for medical care in both countries, most of them are very
close, varying by no more than 4% in most cases, but in nearly all
categories of care, Canada manages to stay ahead of the game. More
nurses per patient, more beds, lower in-hospital mortality rates and
overall satisfaction with their experience is higher.
Canadians and Medical Tourism
Despite all the positive
things about the system that Canada has in place, it's far from
perfect. Even Canadians find the idea of traveling abroad for less
expensive medical care very appealing.
Very long waiting lists for
transplants and other procedures makes taking a trip to get treatment
in India or other countries in Europe such as Germany and Hungary as
easy decision for some. Not to mention the fact that these trips also
feel like vacations is also a big plus!
In addition, Canadians who
have a procedure done outside of the country that is medically
necessary and not available to them in their own country can be
reimbursed for the cost of their treatment by the government.
If the waiting list for
treatment is years behind, in some cases that also qualifies as an
“unavailable” service. Some would say this is a
kind of “queue-jumping”, but in the end, when your
life is as stake, most feel that doesn't matter.
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