snow <snow@smoke.suba.com> wrote:

Actually, don't some wealthy Canucks come south of the border for certain treatments unavailable in the Great White North?

Yes, some wealthy (and not so wealthy people) go south of the border for treatment. Some go because the treatment is unavailable here, others go if they chose not to wait for treatment here. The most common types of exported services are usually high cost and/or experimental but their availability is most often constrained by the low number of people who are qualified to render the service. Many services unavailable in a patient's local area are still covered by provincial health plans. This works when a patient has to travel from a remote region, to another province or to the U.S., and can cover experimental treatments. Some Canadian hospitals make use of U.S. care providers for services when a backlog exists in Canada. For example, Windsor has used Detroit MRI services to reduce waiting times. There are also people who go the other way (U.S. to Canada), usually when they have to pay their own bill. Detroit to Windsor is again not uncommon.

Are the PRICES as high in Canada as here?

In general, prices are lower in Canada for the same level of care. I do not know if the underlying costs are also lower in general. Each province create a payment schedule for services that it reimburses. Hospitals bill the province for services, but all capital cost items (e.g. equipment, buildings) must be paid for from other sources (e.g. donation). Thus, we tend to have fewer capital intensive treatment facilities since the ROI is usually low. The figures that I have seen indicate that the U.S. pays 40%-50% more than Canada on overall health care services. Some of this is due to the rapid availability of higher cost/experimental services. Some of this is due to the higher cost of the administrative bureacracy. Due to the large difference in total costs, I do not think that travel in either direction significantly effects this number. Ciao, James Check out www.spinex.com for more effective alternatives to MRI for diagnosing spinal function at 1/20th of the cost. P.S. No, Canada is not perfect, and I don't know everything.