Quote:
Originally Posted by Vigilante
Now, I've talked to a few canucks and friends of canucks who have claimed to have had to come to the US for medical treatment. What's going on there? I'm not real interested in having to go to Mexico for some cancer treatment or something, know what i mean? I didn't ask at the time, so I'm curious as to why this occurs.
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This is an interesting case. It's incredibly rare for a Canadian to come to the US for medical care, but it does happen. Sometimes people from the US go up to Canada for medical coverage, too (some going so far as marrying Canadian citizens for coverage). Why do Canadians come to the US for coverage? Some areas of Canada are very sparsely populated and due to Canadian medical regulations or perhaps temporary shortages don't have a huge amount of doctors at their disposal, which leads some to travel for medical coverage. Also, some procedures are considered to be quite unimportant and are thus prioritized lower in Canada. Who do Americans go to Canada for coverage? It's cheaper, it doesn't take into account bad credit or preexisting conditions, and if you're involved in a serious accident, they treat you almost immediately (just as in the US), but it doesn't cost you a dime (among other reasons).
It should be said, however, that the instances of Canadians coming to the US for health care are incredibly low but are reported so often by pundits that they seem common. Last I saw, it was around 50 Canadians per year. When you consider the population of Canada is about 33 million, you're just as likely in a year to be hit by lightening as you are to be a Canadian coming to the US for health care.