Wait Times Make US-Based Medical Tourism More Attractive for Canadians

Canadians Weigh Affordable Health Care against Long Wait Times

The average wait times for medical procedures may make medical tourism to the United States more attractive to patients living in Canada.  Although, Canadians typically experience more affordable health care than US patients, the wait times may not be worth the savings.  The Fraser Institute, which measures, studies, and communicates the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals, reported that in some cases, total patient wait times from referral to treatment were almost 18 weeks in 2006.  In 2005, the shortest wait time was just over 16 weeks.   

Medical Tourism Leaving Canada

For Canadian patients, the paradigm shift is toward medical packages to the US.  According to Don Copeman, president and founder of Copeman Healthcare Inc., “Canadians traveling to the US for care are doing so because they can’t get timely care in Canada and they are concerned about their health risks.” 

Canadians are willing to pay the extra money to reduce the hazardous and potentially fatal wait times.  A Pollara Strategic Opinion and Market Research survey revealed that 63% of its Canadian respondents would be willing to pay out of pocket for faster access to health care services. Canada’s Supreme Court decision in Chaoulli vs. Quebec found that “in some cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care.”  The apparent necessity to reduce medical wait times is encouraging Canadians to explore medical packages to the US. 

US Draws Medical Tourism From Canada

Copeman also states, “Canadian and American patients have different motivations for medical tourism [to and from Canada].”  The bottom line is that Canadians are searching for faster service, while Americans are searching for more affordable health care in the form of lower costs. Apparently, both Americans and Canadians are eyeing the green on the other sides’ medical packages in search of affordable health care through different lenses.  Canadians are basing affordability on time, whereas for Americans, affordable health care is based on the price tag.  However, Canadians appear to be faced with the more ironic situation:  although they don’t experience the same rising costs in health care as the US does, the long wait times they do experience drive them to seek medical packages in the US at higher costs. 

Source:  Molly Bernhart, “The grass looks greener: Canadians look to private care, U.S.-based medical tourism as alternatives,” Employee Benefit News, February 2007