Comments on: Do Americans go to Canada for health care?

By: David

David — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:16:32 +0000

I can only speak of one personal experience I had. When my cousin was in her late 20s she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her insurance carrier refused to pay for treatment. After long and excruiating turmoil she emigrated to Canada. Thankfully, she recieved great treatment and continues to teach in Canada 30 years later. So at least one person I know went to Canada for treatment.

By: Grace

Grace — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:38:22 +0000

If the Canadian health care system is as bad as some people are trying to get us to believe, not one of the Canadian snowbirds who live in my neighborhood down here in FL in winter would ever give it up. NOT ONE. If they didn’t like it then why not change it, get rid of it? They could vote it out if they wanted to. Everybody is covered, Canadians have longer lifespans than we do and are healthier. When people were going up north to get cheap meds things changed down here, Walmart has $4 prescriptions and more doctors are prescibing generics. There are very few Canadians who come down here for medical care, only those who don’t want to wait and also guess what? If you need lifesaving treatment and it’s a long wait time, the Canadian government pays for you to go somewhere else for treatment. They pay for it. You don’t!

By: John Murphy

John Murphy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:43:36 +0000

Sorry, typo… first line second paragraph should read…

Secondly, most Canadians wouldn’t touch American hospitals with a ten foot pole.

By: John Murphy

John Murphy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:37:00 +0000

First of all according to Princeton University health economist Uwe Reinhardt, single-payer systems are not “socialized medicine” but “social insurance” systems for medical care.

Secondly, most Canadians touch American hospitals with a ten foot pole. Most of those who do go to the US, think their condition is worse than their physicians think their condition is, If you’re seriously ill, you get care in appropriate time.

From personal experience….. (1) hemi-nephrectomy..4 day wait, 2 of which were for cysto and IVP etc.; (2) from GP to ortolaryngologist to surgical removal of a laryngeal lesion and vocal cord reconstruction.. a total of 16 days; (3) bypass surgery …2 1/2 days…..

Shona Holmes, Canadian in the “Patients United Now” ads went to the US, because of what she describes as a “brain tumour” from which she “would have died” which actually was a Ratke’s Cleft Cyst, a non life threatening benign cyst.
Most Canadians who go to the US for treatment have similar misperceptions of their own condition.

By: JonnyG

JonnyG — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:37:40 +0000

Uh, I don’t know if anyone has pointed out the obvious major fallacy of this “argument” yet, so I will.

Few Americans come to Canada for treatment because Americans don’t pay Canadian taxes to cover their medical expenses within our socialized system.

So if they did come here for treatment they’d most likely have to use our private sector health care providers, except in emergencies when they’d still be covered in the public sector.

In order to receive free care you need to have a Health Card issued only to residents of Canada, so if you aren’t Canadian you shouldn’t have a health card or access to free care since you haven’t paid in to it.

I swear some people are just born idiots.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:04:00 +0000

ontario hos. ins. o.h.i.p. card.
gold rated by ont. gov. means no checks! silent auction

By: peter

peter — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:33:00 +0000

Sure Americans come to Canada for healthcare! A few years back, all of us in Ontario were issued new health cards – with extra security features – because there were so many Americans who had fraudulently got hold of the old ones: Toronto police reported that an Ontario health card was selling for about $1000 on the street!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:40:00 +0000

I don't think drugs and surgery are close.

Drug companies control high costs of drugs here. Pfizer doesn't have to compete with anyone for Viagra (well, Levitra and Cialis aren't exactly the same, and anyway, they are also in on the game. So couterfiet drugs across the border are just ways to get around patent protection, etc here in the US.

Surgical procedures aren't set priced. They may be expensive, but each surgeon probably charges something different depending on the state, facility, etc. So if a surgeon in Canada is cheaper, that doesn't violate any set pricing for intellectual property. It's simply a service.

So drug shopping and surgery shopping are not comparable to my mind.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:34:00 +0000

The fact that you're taking the post to mean that literally no one is going the other way tidily sums up your lack of perspective on the issue.

If the author genuinely meant his comment in the literal sense you seem hellbent on reading into it, then I'll agree with you wholeheartedly. Clearly, that's not what he meant. I (along with most anyone else other than you reading it, I'm sure) understood that it wasn't meant literally. But if you find the poster and discover that he did mean it literally, then I'll openly admit that I misread it and will agree with you.

You have a habit of missing nuances in things you read. It's something that might behoove you to work on in the future.

Thanks for the time, it's been interesting. I've taken at least one valuable lesson from this (read EvanPedia before discussing issues with you, although it does change rapidly). I hope you've learned to read more carefully and argue against the points being made, rather than the ones you wish were being made.

Best!

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:23:00 +0000

Matthew,

Odd the twists and turns that you are coiling up into.

The original post says that there is nobody going from the US to get any medical care in Canada at all.

Now, after all your qualifications and gesticulations, you're trying to say that that's not what it really says, but that it says people come from Canada to the US for expensive procedures only. Except to quote the original claim,

"The traffic seeking health care is all in the other direction."

Which the subsequent comment thread has shown to be hogwash. And you sir, have had to qualify the original statement so much that now you are claiming it only states people come here for expensive surgical procedures but it doesn't. It says that Canadians and Mexicans ONLY come to the US for HEALTH CARE and there are NO Americans going to Canada or Mexico for HEALTH CARE.

Drugs licit and illicit can be used to treat medical problems, people can be so dissatisfied with the US system they are willing to commit fraud to go somewhere else. But as far as you're concerned if the US system has expensive surgical procedures wealthy Canadians want, we're the best!