| Verified against primary record | |
| Hip replacement within the 26-week benchmark | 66 per cent in 2023, down from 75 per cent in 2019[1] |
|---|---|
| Knee replacement within the 26-week benchmark | 59 per cent in 2023, down from 70 per cent in 2019[1] |
| Cataract surgery within the 16-week benchmark | 70 per cent in both 2023 and 2019[1] |
| Hip fracture repair within 48 hours | 82 per cent in 2023, down from 86 per cent in 2019[1] |
| Radiation therapy within the recommended time | 94 per cent in 2023, down from 97 per cent in 2019[1] |
| Diagnostic imaging median waits against 2019 | CT up 4 days, MRI up 7 days[1] |
| Medical tourism in the wait times release | Not mentioned; patients leaving Canada for care is not addressed[1] |
| Independently reported | |
| Canada’s share of United States health travel trade | About 12 per cent of exports and 7 per cent of imports[2] |
| What the air traveller statistics exclude | Travellers from Canada and Mexico, the majority of whom travel to the United States overland[2] |
| Canada as a destination | Named among the most common destinations for United States medical tourists[3] |
| Bands apply only to the rows beneath them. No Canadian count of residents who travelled abroad for treatment, and no Canadian count of foreign patients treated in Canada, was located in any official source. The wait time data is national and describes 2023 against 2019. The trade shares come from a briefing whose author states the views are his own and not the Commission’s. No typical cost range is given because no Canadian source publishes prices paid by foreign patients. | |
Medical tourism in Canada runs in both directions, and neither direction is counted. Canadians are widely reported to travel abroad for treatment because of waiting times, which Canadian official data documents in detail without ever mentioning travel abroad. Canada is simultaneously a destination for American patients, accounting for about 12 per cent of United States health travel exports. The statistics that would measure the flow between the two countries explicitly leave it out, because most of it happens by road.
The waiting times
The Canadian Institute for Health Information reports that in 2023, 66 per cent of hip replacement patients were treated within the 26-week benchmark, down from 75 per cent in 2019, and 59 per cent of knee replacement patients, down from 70 per cent. Cataract surgery held at 70 per cent within its 16-week benchmark in both years. Emergency hip fracture repair within 48 hours fell to 82 per cent from 86 per cent, and radiation therapy within the recommended time frame to 94 per cent from 97 per cent.[1]
Median cancer surgery waits rose by two to four days for breast, bladder, colorectal and lung cancer against 2019, and by 11 days for prostate cancer. Median waits rose by four days for computed tomography and seven days for magnetic resonance imaging. Surgical volumes were increasing after more than two years of decline, with hip replacement volume up 18 per cent and knee replacement up 15 per cent, and the institute notes large differences in diagnostic imaging waits across provinces without giving provincial figures.[1]
These are the figures usually cited as the cause of Canadian outbound medical travel, and they are worth reading carefully before that inference is drawn. Volumes are rising while benchmark attainment falls, which means the system is doing more work and still losing ground against its own targets. That is a different problem from simple undercapacity, and it is also not evidence about how many people left.
The release makes no reference to medical tourism, treatment abroad, or patients leaving Canada for care.[1]
Canada as a destination
The direction less often discussed is inbound. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention names Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and several South American countries as the most common destinations for United States medical tourists.[3]
A 2015 briefing by an economist in the United States International Trade Commission’s Office of Industries, published as the author’s own views and not the Commission’s, puts Canada at about 12 per cent of United States health travel exports and 7 per cent of imports. On that measure Canada sends more health travel revenue to the United States than it receives from it, but it is a substantial counterparty in both directions.[2]
The same briefing records United States health travel exports rising from 1.6 billion dollars in 2003 to 3.3 billion in 2013, a compound annual growth rate of 7.7 per cent, and imports rising from 168 million to 1.4 billion over the same decade, a rate of 24 per cent from a low base, leaving a trade surplus of 1.8 billion dollars in 2013.[2]
The measurement gap
The briefing records that about 0.5 per cent of air travellers entering the United States annually, between 100,000 and 200,000 people, list health treatment as a reason for visiting, and that between 150,000 and 320,000 outbound Americans list healthcare as a reason for travelling abroad, 0.2 to 0.6 per cent of outbound air travellers. It then states plainly that this data excludes travellers from Canada and Mexico, the majority of whom travel to the United States overland, and a footnote confirms that travel to Canada and Mexico is not included in those figures.[2]
This is the single most important measurement fact in North American medical travel, and it is easy to miss. The air traveller survey is the instrument that produces the headline counts of people crossing borders for care, and it omits the two countries that share a land border with the United States. So the flow most likely to be large, because it needs no flight, is the flow the counting method cannot see.
The consequence for Canada specifically is that a number does exist for Canada’s share of the dollar value of United States health travel trade, derived from spending, while no number exists for how many people moved. Figures in circulation that purport to count Canadians treated abroad do not come from either source described here.
What travellers are advised
The public health guidance aimed at North American medical travellers is uniform in its emphasis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises consulting a primary care professional well in advance, considering a travel medicine specialist four to six weeks before travel, agreeing in advance how complications will be handled with clinicians at both ends, checking whether domestic insurance covers care abroad and whether supplemental or medical evacuation cover is needed, requesting overseas medical records in English, and confirming what a quoted price actually includes, since some facilities charge substantial extra fees for follow-up care.[3]
On flying after surgery it advises not flying for 10 days after chest or abdominal surgery, and records the American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommendation of waiting seven to 10 days after laser or cosmetic procedures on the face, eyelids or nose, noting that cabin pressure is roughly equivalent to outside air pressure at 6,000 to 8,000 feet and that travel after surgery raises blood clot risk.[3]
Limits of the evidence
No Canadian federal or provincial count of residents treated abroad was located, and no count of foreign patients treated in Canada. The wait time release gives no publication date and no total procedure counts, and covers data from April to September 2023. The trade figures are from 2013 and 2003 and are a decade or more old. Estimates of Canadian outbound medical travel published by advocacy organisations were deliberately not used, because their methods could not be examined from the sources located here.
See also
- Medical travel and waiting lists, the mechanism usually invoked for Canada
- Medical tourism in the United States, Canada’s counterparty in both directions
- Medical tourism and balance of payments statistics, and what the air traveller survey misses
- Cross-border healthcare for border communities, the overland flow that is not measured
- Outbound medical tourism, the direction most often discussed
References
- Canadian Institute for Health Information. Canadians waiting longer for priority surgeries and diagnostic imaging compared with pre-pandemic period. Underlying resource: Wait times for priority procedures in Canada, 2024. Verified against primary record: the release was opened and the hip replacement figure of 66 per cent within the 26-week benchmark in 2023 against 75 per cent in 2019, the knee replacement figure of 59 per cent against 70 per cent, the cataract surgery figure of 70 per cent within the 16-week benchmark in both years, the hip fracture repair figure of 82 per cent within 48 hours against 86 per cent, the radiation therapy figure of 94 per cent within the recommended time frame against 97 per cent, the median cancer surgery wait increases of two to four days for breast, bladder, colorectal and lung cancer and 11 days for prostate cancer, the median increases of four days for CT and seven days for MRI, the 18 per cent rise in hip replacement volume and 15 per cent rise in knee replacement volume, the statement that surgical volumes are increasing after more than two years of decline, the note of large provincial differences in diagnostic imaging waits without provincial figures, the coverage period of April to September 2023, and the absence of any reference to medical tourism, treatment abroad or patients leaving Canada for care were read directly. The release carries no publication date. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Chambers, A. Trends in U.S. Health Travel Services Trade. Office of Industries, United States International Trade Commission, Executive Briefing on Trade, August 2015. Independently reported: the briefing was opened and the figure of about 12 per cent of United States health travel exports and 7 per cent of imports attributable to Canada, exports of USD 1.6 billion in 2003 and 3.3 billion in 2013 at a 7.7 per cent compound annual growth rate, imports of USD 168 million in 2003 and 1.4 billion in 2013 at 24 per cent, the 2013 trade surplus of USD 1.8 billion, the global estimate that roughly 3 million patients are thought to travel for healthcare each year, the figure that about 0.5 per cent of air travellers entering the United States annually or 100,000 to 200,000 people list health treatment as a reason for visiting, the figure of 150,000 to 320,000 outbound Americans listing healthcare as a reason at 0.2 to 0.6 per cent of outbound air travellers, the explicit statement that this data excludes travellers from Canada and Mexico the majority of whom travel to the United States overland together with the footnote that travel to Canada and Mexico is not included in those figures, and the explanation that health travel is measured through foreign nationals’ purchases of goods and services were read directly. The briefing states that the views expressed are those of the author and not those of the Commission or any of its Commissioners, which is why it is placed in this band. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Stoney, R. J. and Leidel, L. Medical Tourism. CDC Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel, 2026 edition, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Page dated 23 April 2025. Independently reported: the chapter was opened and the naming of Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and several South American countries as the most common destinations for United States medical tourists, the advice to consult a primary care professional well in advance and a travel medicine specialist four to six weeks before travel, the advice to agree in advance how complications will be handled with clinicians at both ends, the advice on checking domestic insurance coverage and supplemental and medical evacuation cover, the advice to request overseas medical records in English, the warning that some facilities charge substantial extra fees for follow-up care, the guidance not to fly for 10 days after chest or abdominal surgery, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommendation to wait seven to 10 days after laser or cosmetic procedures on the face, eyelids or nose, the note that cabin pressure is roughly equivalent to outside air pressure at 6,000 to 8,000 feet and that travel after surgery raises blood clot risk were read directly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Sourcing note: this entry does not state how many Canadians travel abroad for treatment, because no official source giving that figure was located and the widely circulated estimates come from advocacy organisations whose methods could not be examined here. The wait time data is presented as what it is, a measure of the domestic system, and the entry says explicitly that it is not evidence of how many people left. The trade figures are a decade old and that is stated. Nothing has been estimated.