[Awful US healthcare system] Canadians visit U.S. to get health care

[SigniferOne]

Hospitals in border cities, including Detroit, are forging lucrative arrangements with Canadian health agencies to provide care not widely available across the border.

Agreements between Detroit hospitals and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for heart, imaging tests, bariatric and other services provide access to some services not immediately available in the province, said ministry spokesman David Jensen.

The agreements show how a country with a national care system -- a proposal not part of the health care changes under discussion in Congress -- copes with demand for care with U.S. partnerships, rather than building new facilities.

Michael Vujovich, 61, of Windsor was taken to Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital for an angioplasty procedure after he went to a Windsor hospital in April. Vujovich said the U.S. backup doesn't show a gap in Canada's system, but shows how it works.

"I go to the hospital in Windsor and two hours later, I'm done having angioplasty in Detroit," he said. His $38,000 bill was covered by the Ontario health ministry.

Canada eyed in the health care debate

Dany Mercado, a leukemia patient from Kitchener, Ontario, is cancer-free after getting a bone marrow transplant at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.

Told by Canadian doctors in 2007 he couldn't have the procedure there, Mercado's family and doctor appealed to Ontario health officials, who agreed to let him have the transplant in Detroit in January 2008.

The Karmanos Institute is one of several Detroit health facilities that care for Canadians needing services not widely available in Canada.

Canada, for example, has waiting times for bariatric procedures to combat obesity that can stretch to more than five years, according to a June report in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.

As a result, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April designated 13 U.S. hospitals, including five in Michigan and one more with a tentative designation, to perform bariatric surgery for Canadians.

http://freep.com/article/20090820/BU...08200420/1319/

[justicar5]

Similar happens in europe, travel between member states for health care, while not common does happen, the country of origin pays the bill.

[Erik]

Similar happens in europe, travel between member states for health care, while not common does happen, the country of origin pays the bill.

Yep.

Sometimes it's just more cost efficient to buy health care abroad.
Demand for certain treatments can fluctuate, for example.
And some hospitals are specialized in specific diseases, making them more cost-efficient if they attract patients from a wider area.

To me it's a sign that the system is working.
Everybody gets proper treatment, payed for by the state, at the most cost-efficient way regardless of borders.

In my country they even send patients all the way to Turkey for certain treatments.
Not because the treatment is different (they use Dutch doctors using Dutch standards) but because it's cheaper to rent a Turkish luxury holiday resort and buy plane ticket than to house patients in a Dutch hospital for observation for a week or two. - also way more enjoyable for the patients.

[S.L.I.G]

Yup, the Canadian healthcare system is in shambles. Though the American one aint too great either. Both systems are inherently flawed, but such is life. I'd rather pay alot and get treatment than the alternative my country presents; pay taxes for treatment and still get none.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Nobody is saying US healthcare isn't good for those who can afford it.

That's not the point.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Nobody is saying US healthcare isn't good for those who can afford it.

That's not the point.

Thats why we should try to make it more affordable, not scrap the system that already works pretty well.

[touchmaster]

Thats why we should try to make it more affordable, not scrap the system that already works pretty well.

Why should people who can't afford health care get it?

Everything is about Money in this county, if you haven't figured out yet.


You can't get free in America (Used to be that way). You have to work and make good choices in life.


“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." - Ben Franklin

[Gertrudius]

“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." - Ben Franklin

The constitution does not mention the pursuit of happiness, that's in the Declaration of Independence. The constitution says life, liberty and property. Not that it really matters, I'm just being anal for the hell of it.

Take it easy,

[touchmaster]

The constitution does not mention the pursuit of happiness, that's in the Declaration of Independence. The constitution says life, liberty and property. Not that it really matters, I'm just being anal for the hell of it.

Take it easy,

Yes it does, it doesn't say it literally, but if you look at the rights you get as an American Citizen, it's perfectly clear that you have the right to happiness. It isn't just going to jump out under a rock and say "Hey heres free health care", you have to actually pick up the rock and work for it.

It's like a bum on the off ramp of a highway, they expect passersby to give them money when they are too lazy to get off their ass and do something useful w/ their life.

[touchmaster]

Painful to read.

[General Nuisance esq]

Never mind the question as to whether the tax payer should pay for surgery for self inflicted illnesses such as obesity

[nopasties]

so the Canadians use the US for overflow. So what?

[danzig]

so the Canadians use the US for overflow. So what?

I think the point is for the canadian model is pumped up as being great because it takes care of all its people but in reality its system cant actually do it without resorting to outside sources. People use how Americans will go to Canada for treatment because they cant afford it as an indication of flaws in American system (and they ARE right) but here we have Canadians not being able to get treated in a timely way having to go to America, hilighting the flaws of Canada's system. Bottom line is no system is perfect and from an american pov we need to stop trying to compare and go "if only we had <so and so>'s system" when we need one catered to american needs not a copy.

Just for argument sake, say the US copied Canadian model for health care...what would these particular Canadians patients do if they couldnt cross the border and get quicker treatment because the same logjams/problems developed in the US? Canada would have to institute reforms to address the problem!

[Gertrudius]

Never mind the question as to whether the tax payer should pay for surgery for self inflicted illnesses such as obesity

I doubt you have any evidence to back up that accusation about obesity. As a matter of fact I'd like to see you detail the medical confirmation of these "self afflicted" illnesses. Don't worry, I'm willing to wait until you have some actual data in hand.

Take it easy,

[Hotspur]

I doubt you have any evidence to back up that accusation about obesity. As a matter of fact I'd like to see you detail the medical confirmation of these "self afflicted" illnesses. Don't worry, I'm willing to wait until you have some actual data in hand.

Take it easy,

It's right in the article:

Canada, for example, has waiting times for bariatric procedures to combat obesity that can stretch to more than five years, according to a June report in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.

As a result, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April designated 13 U.S. hospitals, including five in Michigan and one more with a tentative designation, to perform bariatric surgery for Canadians.

Bariatric surgeries are those done to combat serious obesity - gastric bypass, gastric banding and the like.

Detroit: Fatties Welcome!

[Gertrudius]

It's right in the article:

Really? because I just combed through the article again and nowhere does it mention obesity, or any other illness for that matter, as a "self afflicted" condition. I think you just misunderstood what I was saying. If not, enlighten me.

Take it easy,

[Hotspur]

Really? because I just combed through the article again and nowhere does it mention obesity, or any other illness for that matter, as a "self afflicted" condition. I think you just misunderstood what I was saying. If not, enlighten me.

Take it easy,

While there may be a genetic predisposition towards obesity in any one particular person, obesity is preventable through dietary and life-style choices. In that sense, I can see calling it "self afflicted."

[removeduser_487563287433]

Well, there's a philosophical point there. Do you use tax payers money to treat self inflicted illnesses? The effects of alcoholism, smoking, obesity etc? The strain on the organs from all three is imense.

Of course, in the UK, these people do get treated. But there's one thing that is a common problem to both private and universal healthcare; the lack of organs for transplant. And frankly, an alcoholic doesn't deserve a liver as much as a child who needs it.

Still, they do get them. Look at George Best.

[Player989random]

So a person goes to a place to get quality treatment?

The issue isn't how bad are doctors are, it is how much we are paying. Although if your point is that the system could be abused, then I whole-heartedly agree with you.

[FuZe]

The actual number of medical tourists from Canada is infinitesimal as several peer-reviewed studies have shown.