The left loves to tell everyone how the US needs to have “free” healthcare, you know, like they do in Canada. Let me illustrate why that’s bull hockey.
I was at work, and a man brought his 17 year old son in, after the son fell off of his dirt bike a week before, injuring his shoulder. X-ray showed no broken bones. The dad asked if we could see any tendon or muscle damage, and we informed him that an x-ray can’t see that, he would need more testing. At this point, it is no longer in the scope of emergency care. The doctor and I advised them they would need to go to the child’s doctor’s office to get an order for an MRI, because only an MRI could see with that kind of detail.
The dad then asked if we could write the order for the MRI. The doctor explained that ER doctors can’t write an order like that, because the doctor writing an order for tests has to be the same doctor who treats the patient’s conditions exposed by that test. The man explained that the child’s doctor wanted him to have an MRI. So we asked him why he doesn’t get his own doctor to write the order. Even if insurance won’t pay for it, it’s only about $200.
We are from Canada and are returning home in the next couple of days. I can’t believe you won’t just give me an order. This is ridiculous, not only do we have to pay almost $300 for this ER visit, you can’t even write us the order to get the MRI. Now you want us to pay for a local doctor and pay $200 for an MRI? The health care system here in the US is so broken.
We asked, “If you can get it done for free back home, then why don’t you get it done when you get there?” His reply was gold:
We specifically came here to the US get an MRI because there is a year long wait for one back home. We tried to get one at the place down the street, but the MRI place said we need a doctor’s order. All I need is an order from a US doctor so we can get one while we are here in the states.
That’s the state of Canadian healthcare. It’s free, but you can’t have any. Rather than wait, this dad bundles his kid up, flies to the US, then trashes our medical care because it won’t do it now, and won’t do it for free.
13 Comments
Steve S6 · April 13, 2026 at 9:24 am
But no wait for euthanasia.
Gerry · April 13, 2026 at 10:13 am
I had a Canadian co-worker who had chest pains while running. He was out of work for a total of 12 weeks waiting for tests and the subsequent surgery, not including recovery time. He bragged it didn’t cost him a dime.
I told him if he came to an ER here in the States he would have the same test and surgery in under a weeks’ time. Our company insurance would have covered just about everything, and he wouldn’t had to worry about dying for 12 weeks. I also reminded him his Prime Minister had his heart surgery don in the US, not Canada.
Tom from East Tennessee · April 13, 2026 at 11:11 am
Well, if he won’t get his son treatment, then I guess they’ll have to give him the Old Yeller treatment instead. It may take a year in Canada to get an MRI but they’ll put you down without a wait.
Sardaukar · April 13, 2026 at 11:31 am
Wouldn’t be surprised if the Canuck medical system suggested the kid apply to the MAID program to be euthanized within 24hrs after acceptance.
ghostsniper · April 13, 2026 at 11:39 am
People like that leave me exhaustperated.
That’s a new word I invented for the times.
Exhausted + Exasperated = Exhaustperated.
Boone · April 13, 2026 at 11:52 am
That reminds me of the old free market tale of the man that drove a hundred miles to buy a widget. Sales clerk tells him it will be twenty dollars. The customer, irate, says, “that’s outrageous! widgets sell for five dollars at the store next to my house!” Sales clerk says perhaps he should buy one there, in that case. Angry customer says, “I can’t, they have been sold out for months!”
Divemedic · April 13, 2026 at 12:21 pm
The clerk replies, “Oh. Well, when we are out of widgets, we lower the price to a dollar.”
Treefarmer · April 13, 2026 at 6:22 pm
Why can’t a self-paying, uninsured customer simply “order” and pay for an MRI whenever and wherever they want? It seems like MRI providers should compete for the business. As a value added the MRI provider could provide a brief analysis of the results, or the customer could take the file and give it to the doctor of heir choice for further analysis. Is it the insurance companies, the imaging providers, or the doctors who prevent this from happening?
Divemedic · April 14, 2026 at 5:14 am
It’s the government. An MRI is a medical procedure, requiring a doctor to order it, a radiologist to interpret, and the ordering doctor to deliver the results and follow up care to the patient.
C · April 13, 2026 at 8:35 pm
Outpatient MRIs FTW. I’m not bothering my ER nurses with any BS. Most of them think I’m crazy when I tell them if were to get shot, I’m going keep pressure on that shit, and ask my family doctor can he get me a walk in for outpatient surgery.
Birdog357 · April 13, 2026 at 10:55 pm
$200 for an MRI out of pocket? On what planet? I had one last year on my C-spine. Cost me $800 AFTER insurance….
Divemedic · April 14, 2026 at 5:17 am
1 Insurance deliberately forces providers to inflate prices. IMO, this is done to scare people into having insurance.
2 Ditto Medicare, which is the 800# gorilla in the room
3 there are some independents who will take self pay and give a good price.
4 Don’t ask me the hows and whys. The intricacies of billing and Medicare are a specialty all their own. This is largely caused by the literally tens of thousands of pages of government regulations, especially those tied to Medicare. In fact, the entry level into this field is an asscociates (2 year) degree program, and some 4 year degrees in healthcare administration have a concentration in billing and coding. To say the system is complicated is a bit of an understatement.
tfourier · April 14, 2026 at 8:51 am
Go look at the license plates in the carparks of any big hospital in cities close to the border like Seattle. You will always see some BC, Alberta etc plates. Always there for the same reasons. Could not get medical treatment in Canada. Been like this for decades.
As for the $200 MRI. Last time I checked it was closer to $300. Self pay. Its amazing how inexpensive treatments become when you say the magic words – Self Pay.
My eldest when he was very young had a minor heart condition that needed twice a year checks up. With insurance gross billing $1200+. Self pay around $200. Turned out once insurance got involved it was not just the three tests my kid actually needed but at least 9 or 10 others. All due to medical liability or insurance rules reasons. With self pay the hospital was really happy. Wrote check on the spot and my kid got even better treatment than if on insurance. For a start the doctors and nurses had to write up far less paper-work for an insurance claim. More time spent with my kid.
Never had to pay for medications either most of the time. Once the doctors heard it was self pay and because it was a small kid they usually raided the “free samples” cabinet. Stuff they got from the pharma reps. Exactly the same meds that they would have written any prescriptions for.
In fact the only time I had a bad experience with the US medical system over many decades was the one time I used my health insurance. Turned out it was a HMO through Kaiser. Once my broken arm healed enough I basically bailed. The quality of healthcare at Kaiser was as bad as any socialized medical system in Europe. In fact I only went to my last two appointments to see if there was a pattern. There was.
But self-pay (plus catastrophic pre 2010) was a great experience every time. Heard lots of horror stories about the socialized systems in Europe. Most involve people dying. The non-socialized non job based health insurance systems in Europe range from OK to very good. If the US had a health insurance system like say the Netherlands health care costs would half immediately and everyone but Big Labor and several 100K administrators would be much happier and less stressed out.
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