FYI it is an open secret & a constant budget strain here (NB) that many thousands (some estimates are over 30k) of US citizens in Maine have NB medical card that they use for free treatment in Canada. I am sure the situation is the same in other provinces.
An other isssue is the many thousands of Americans who seek treatment here for procedures that they can not afford in the US. Granted most of these pay the bill themselves, but in Canada no one is turned away, not even Yanks.
I know many docs here simply don’t charge non citizens or charge at the rate NB pays them under our system for an office visit, i.e. $20.00 per visit. With rates several times that across the line you can imagine that many thousands of Americans who live with in a short distence of the border use the Canadian system as a ‘back-up”.
On the bright side, because Canada does not pay for vision surgery, when I was in Washington I heard of many who thought it was well worth traveling from the Seattle area to Canada where the procedure was offered on the free market much cheaper. In the US, if you have health insurance that does not cover the procedure, then it costs many times what it does North of the border.
I never heard of anyone in Washington using Canada as a back up for the socialist benefits. But maybe I would have if I had lived further north.
Re back up medical system.
FYI it is an open secret & a constant budget strain here (NB) that many thousands (some estimates are over 30k) of US citizens in Maine have NB medical card that they use for free treatment in Canada. I am sure the situation is the same in other provinces.
An other isssue is the many thousands of Americans who seek treatment here for procedures that they can not afford in the US. Granted most of these pay the bill themselves, but in Canada no one is turned away, not even Yanks.
I know many docs here simply don’t charge non citizens or charge at the rate NB pays them under our system for an office visit, i.e. $20.00 per visit. With rates several times that across the line you can imagine that many thousands of Americans who live with in a short distence of the border use the Canadian system as a ‘back-up”.
Kevin, that doesn’t surprise me at all….
On the bright side, because Canada does not pay for vision surgery, when I was in Washington I heard of many who thought it was well worth traveling from the Seattle area to Canada where the procedure was offered on the free market much cheaper. In the US, if you have health insurance that does not cover the procedure, then it costs many times what it does North of the border.
I never heard of anyone in Washington using Canada as a back up for the socialist benefits. But maybe I would have if I had lived further north.