Why some Canadians are using their savings, GoFundMe to pay for private surgeries

Linda Slater waited two years to walk with her grandchildren to the patio of recreation down the street from her home of Calgary.

You can finally do it. She just had to pay $ 33,000.

“I can walk without pain,” he said.

In June, the 83 -year -old woman emptied her retirement savings to replace her left knee in a private surgical clinic for profit in Toronto.

Slater made the decision to become private after spending two years on a waiting list to see an orthopedic surgeon in the public system.

“I felt that I was in a place where I didn’t know what to do,” Slater told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s Blanca Pata, black art.

Some Canadians like Slater are using retirement savings and using Gofundme campaigns to pay the joint replacement surgeries to relieve pain.

But not everyone can afford or want to pay.

Canadians who spoke with Blanca Pata, Black Art He shared his reluctance to pay his pocket for the replacement surgeries of the joints that should be able to do publicly funded medical care system.

“We should get this. We are not America, we are Canada. We receive medical attention when we need it,” said Linda Bestard, who however paid for replacing her hip in a private surgical clinic in Quebec.

Depending on the province, patients can expect more than the maximum recommended of 26 weeks than the provincial health ministers of Canada agreed to return in 2004.

Data of 2024 shows That about 39 percent of Canadians were waiting for a new knee, and about 32 percent of those expected a new hip were not treated in that timeline.

Doctors say that problems such as personnel shortage, limited time of the operating room and An increase in trauma cases They are behind long waiting for many patients.

Dr. Bernard Ho, an emergency doctor and family, and vice president of Canadian doctors for Medicare, says that health authorities should invest more dollars to improve the public system so that patients do not feel the need to pay in their pocket.

“No one should have to make that decision,” he said.

It is difficult to have an idea of ​​how many Canadians pay for the replacement surgery of the joints, since there are no publicly available data.

Dr. Rick Zarnett, orthopedic surgeon and medical director of Dixon Road Clinic of the surgical solution network, the same clinic where Slater underwent surgery, said that his clinic performs around 400 articular replacement surgeries every year.

Zarnett, who works both in the clinic and performs surgeries in the public system at the Humber River hospital in Toronto, says that stories like Slater’s are common.

“The quality of life of these patients has been affected detrimitally, and they are only at the end of the ingenuity, and they need something done,” he said.

Gofundme for a new hip

Linda Bestard doubted to pay hip replacement surgery.

Initially, an orthopedic surgeon said Bestard who didn’t need it. Instead, for two years he received shots of cortisone, he made physiotherapy and tried medications.

Bestard was placed on a waiting list for another orthopedic surgeon in 2023. At that time, the now 63 -year -old walked with two canes.

Unable to do favorite activities such as hiking or kayak near his home in Carleton, NS, Bestard says he was depressed.

Inspired by a neighbor who used Gofundme for a shoulder replacement, Bestard’s wife, Marla Stiles, began one of his.

“She was tied and determined that she was going to recover my life,” Bestard said.

Some 50 friends and family contributed $ 30,000 to cover private surgery in a Quebec clinic, plus travel expenses.

In March, she used that money to write a check for the surgeon for $ 5,700. He also paid the radiographs, an anesthesiologist and rates for the clinic.

“I have pets, so I’m used to paying for my pets when they go to the veterinarian. But that’s the only thing that reminds me,” he said.

Paying for surgery

According to a significant and growing number of private for profit “throughout the country, which deliver surgeries such as the replacement of the joints, according to A published report Last year by the Canadian Medical Association.

Derek Bley, Regional Director of Ontario, Alberta and BC for Surgical Solutions Network, a chain of private clinics, says that the demand in its Toronto clinic has been stable for joint replacement surgeries in the last four years.

After patients are medically evaluated, he says they generally receive surgery within two to six weeks. Clinic personnel only perform low -risk surgeries.

He adds that most patients traveling to Toronto for replacement surgery of private joints come from prairies, with a small percentage of maritime.

“These patients receive exceptional care. They get one by one treatment they deserve,” Bley said.

In addition to private rooms, Bley says that patients have access to a 24 -hour direct line and affiliated practitioners in their province of origin if they need monitoring care.

Federal legislation means that patients such as Slater and Bestard should travel outside the province for surgery in these private clinics.

The Canada Health Law prohibits additional billing and user rates for services included in public insurance plans. That means that doctors are prohibited from charging patients in their own province more than the Medicare rate for a medically necessary procedure covered by provincial health plans.

Private clinics in most provinces feel that ban on operating in patients from other provinces.

But for those like Susan Disprise, paying your pocket for a hip replacement is not an option. Disraches says he would need to referee her house in Pei, something that the 68 -year -old widow does not feel comfortable.

“I am a last year student with a very limited income. I have some savings, but certainly not enough to pay it,” he said.

Hoping to reduce waiting times for patients, politicians in Alberta They are resorting to private surgical clinics, and taking into account the invoice, to assume some joint replacement surgeries.

But some say that does not always happen. Investigation Of the Parkland Institute In Alberta contracts with private centers, profit centers said that costs and waiting times increased significantly.

HO suggests that provincial governments need to hire more personnel and then increase operation time at night and on weekends.

Other doctors say it would be much faster to replace a hip or knee if There was a central waiting list.

Return to the public system

The left knee of Linda Slater can be fixed, but now he believes that his right knee must be replaced. It meets with an orthopedic surgeon this month.

But this time, if she needs surgery, it will have to be through the public system.

“I don’t have more money,” he said.