The Obama administration may not like the current state of U.S. healthcare, but Canadians do.
A number of middle-class Canadians are looking south as a way to avoid waiting for urgent and sometimes life-saving procedures. According to Lisa Priest of The Globe & Mail (Canada), much of it has to do with the sluggish economy and a stronger Canadian dollar.
Rick Baker, a Canadian healthcare broker, agrees with Priest that price is an issue, but he says many patients are focused on access.
"We [in Canada] get healthcare for free, [so] you would wonder why people would pay willingly to go south, but the reason is we don't have any access," the broker says.
Baker tells OneNewsNow that he often tells people it reminds him of stories on Stalinist Russia, where bread was "free" -- and one only had to get in line and wait.
"And I imagine there were lots of people who were willing to pay to get the bread faster on the black market in Russia, just as there are people in Canada who are cheerfully willing to pay to get better access in the U.S.," comments Baker.
So how much are Canadians willing to pay? An open-heart surgery can be done for as little as $16,000 cash. Hip and knee replacements have been negotiated to less than $19,000. Canadian patients paying upfront means less paperwork, one of the reasons U.S. healthcare is so costly.
Baker offers the same opportunities to uninsured or impoverished Americans in the U.S.
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