For many years, Canadians maintained the notion that travelling for medical needs was a perk reserved for the affluent. And, for many years, that paradigm was basically true. Canadians were not waiting for health care and we had extraordinary physicians. We still have extraordinary physicians but the waiting to see them ranges from serious frustration to sometimes death.
The press recently has brought to light the tragic stories of those that have suffered greatly in the absence of accessible health care. It’s time to step aside from the sensationalism and get real. Medical travel is now an opportunity for all. Canadians are delicate when it comes to leaving their Universal system but that doesn’t mean they won’t take action. It means they have to be guided and educated in a way specialized to their needs.
Our phone does not ring constantly with people clinging to their life. It is the people like you and I…those of us raising a family, working to pay our bills and save for retirement that are in need of health care sooner than later. Whether it be an unexplained rash, a painless lump, or an ongoing dull pain, people now power through because they are dismissed at their doctors (if they have one) or are tired of being bounced around between tests where the left never seems what the right is doing. It is people like ‘us’ that have no time for these time consuming games thus choose to incur the expense rather than endure the frustation.
US and overseas hospitals can often appear as predatory when it comes to their desire to attract Canadian patients. Some of them are. More importantly though, many of them are truly opening their arms and resources to serve as a helpful resource for those Canadians that choose to take charge of their own health care choices.
Medical travel is here to stay and IHP will continue to lead the way.
