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105,000 Canadians Travelled Abroad For Medical Treatment – WHY?
Jan 25, 2026 - Alan Brough
Full Article
105,000 Canadians Travelled Abroad For Medical Treatment – WHY?
A new report published by the Fraser Institute last week has revealed that as many of 105,529 people chose to travel out of Canada for medical treatment, either because they didn’t trust the healthcare options in Canada, or because they couldn’t risk waiting any longer for treatment from our overloaded and overstretched healthcare system, neither of which is acceptable for any supposedly ‘First World’ country.
As we have been reporting on for a long time in this Canada Health Alliance newsletter, wait times have become reflective of the collapse of our government-run healthcare system in Canada. The Fraser Report also revealed that in 2025, Canadians waited almost 29 weeks from the date of their family doctor’s referral to actually receive any sort of specialist treatment. No wonder people are giving up waiting and are resorting to ‘medical tourism’ in places like Mexico.
The cost of this ‘travel option’ is significant for those having to fly out of the country for extended periods of time. The tragedy is that all this money could otherwise be kept in Canada if our provincial and Federal governments allowed privately paid options to be available, so people could have realistic medical choices right in the towns and cities where they live.
Assuming that the average cost to each of these 105,000 people was $35,000 including air tickets, accommodation and meals and, of course, the actual treatment itself (which is conservative considering the treatment costs and time needed for more serious chronic conditions), the total estimated cost is almost $3.8 billion, and is likely a lot more.
Surely that sort of money would be incentive enough for a province like Alberta or Saskatchewan to break-ranks and allow a two-tier public / private partnership to save these people having to spend all that money in a foreign country.
However, travelling abroad is considered a matter of survival for many. To date, over 23,000 Canadians have died while on waitlists, and that is inexcusable especially considering how much money is being sunk into the ‘legacy’ healthcare system.
Commenting on this on Life Site News, Clare Marie Merkowsky said, “Over 100,000 Canadians sought medical care outside of the country last year as Liberals continue to prioritize assisted suicide over actual health care.” Sadly, she is right, and one of the reasons could well be the obscene profits to be made in the international organ trade.
On a sober note, the Fraser Institute concluded their report by saying, “That a considerable number of Canadians travelled abroad and paid to escape the well-known failings of the Canadian health-care system speaks volumes about how well the system is working for them.”
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