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Many people near the Canadian border do exactly this. I think it's more common with dental procedures than most medical issues, but I've heard of people gettin
by douche 11y ago
Many people near the Canadian border do exactly this. I think it's more common with dental procedures than most medical issues, but I've heard of people getting non-emergency surgery done.
Even if you pay completely out of pocket, Canadian medicine is much cheaper than US. I had an emergency appendectomy while on vacation in Quebec, and the total bill, with surgery, anesthesia, an overnight stay in the hospital, and the 100+ mile ambulance ride to get me out to a real hospital, was around $2500. That's the deductible on my US health insurance... A comparable procedure in a US hospital would be billed at nearly an order of magnitude higher (source, several in-patient orthopedic surgeries I've had)
- mistermann 11y ago> A comparable procedure in a US hospital would be billed at nearly an order of magnitude higher This is the problem most people overlook when talking healthcare reform in the US - if you just make it single payer (the government), you're still screwed if the prices are 10x what it should be.
- lern_too_spel 11y agoThe reason it's much cheaper in Canada is collective bargaining through the single payer. The hospitals can't charge exorbitant markups for those procedures and take the profit because the single payer knows how much it actually costs and will make it just worth their while.
- aidenn0 11y agoFor at least certain things Medicare and Medicaid is forbidden by law to use it's position to bargain for lower prices.