From: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Subject: Canadian Retirees vs. Real Medical travellers
Summary: (Was: health care industry woes)
Reply-To: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Organization: The Bates Motel
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:57:43 GMT

starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr) writes:
>
>This is why there's an "underground railroad" for Canadians in
>need of immediate treatment to get it in the States.

Only a few of the Canadians who travel to the U.S. for medical
treatment do so with funding from their insurance plan.  The
overwhelming majority live here in America full or part-time
and have insurance benefits to spend in the course of living.

The United States has many areas where LOTS of retired Canadians live
to escape the brutal winters or even spend full-time (two very famous
Canadian retiree colonies are found in Florida --- primarily French-
speaking Quebecois --- and Arizona --- primarily Western Canadians).
Since I can't think of any other reason for a fellow Canadian to come
all the way down for regular care, that would go a long way to explain
your statement in a comprehendable fashion (to real Canadians -- you
Americans can continue to let your imaginations run riot (-;).

These Canadian retirees are able to use their provincial health plan
insurance where they're in large numbers ... La Presse in mid-January
(Montreal's largest French daily) had an article about how many Miami
hospitals and clinics, in Little Montreal and the surrounding areas,
openly display the symbol of Quebec's La Regie de L'Assurance-Sante',
that they accept their payment on the Quebec provincial fee schedule.
Most of those facilities have idle resources so they'd rather take in
paying customers at a lower rate.  One old retiree had commented that
their Regie insurance payments went to pay for poor Americans who were
piled up in the Emergency ward out back ("a l'arriere") for the stuff
he would have normally caught well in advance.  

(National Geographic's February 1990 issue has an article on these
French Canadian retirees, called "Quebec South" ... so many retirees
are down there that the Turks and Cacaos Islands in the Caribbean have
twice petitioned to join Canada and get a slice of the retirement pie
as a "domestic" location.)

A second area where this is common is in Arizona, where retirees have
found themselves following their retired doctors, who see them during
their part-time practices (to get a Green Card, rather than use the
usual "temporary" resident alien retiree visas, and qualify for some
American public benefits on top of their Canadian and personal funds).
Cape Hatteras (sp?) is another growing Canadian warm weather colony,
in the Carolinas somewhere (New York Rangers' Mark Messier has put
his parents down there, of course visiting often to get in rounds
of golf on the side -- that's where he spent the NHL strike) -- my
geography gets sketchy down there. (-;

So if these Canadian retirees are chilling out for the winter down in
warmer climates, and able to use their health insurance, why not? That
would save them more time for summer fun -- no matter that you've had
ten Christmases in L.A., as a Canadian you're running in winter mode.
And, these retirees are not necessarily flush, either, but significant
numbers in this trend enjoy American Social Security on top of Canada
(or Quebec) Pension Plan and company retirement and/or RRSP's (IRA's
in Americanese) ... that puts them over the top, and down to Florida;
many people in Miami's "Little Montreal" were WW II draft dodgers who
worked in the U.S., or teenagers who took jobs vacated by Americans
who enlisted when America joined the war, and stayed around for the
50's (these were back in the old days of free movement); then 20/30/40
years later, they retire from their job in Canada and find that old
Social Security card and call the US Consulate to check on their
account balance and ...  Ooh la la!!!  (-;

If I could golf in Arizona or spend a day at the beach in Florida,
come home or go to the bar for a tall cool one just as the hockey
game on satellite television starts, and know that I've got my own
health insurance entitlement ... I'd be feeling pretty good, too!

gld
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary L. Dare				Jesus Saves!
> gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.EDU 		Gretzky gets the rebound -
> gld@cunixc.BITNET			he shoots, he scores!
Newsgroups: talk.politics.medicine