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I am a healthy, 71-year-old male. Last year I walked five kilometres daily and walked an 18-hole golf course over 40 times. I socialized and travelled often.
In December 2023, I developed significant hip pain and have been diagnosed with severe, possibly bilateral, osteoarthritis of the hip(s). On May 8, 2024, my doctor referred me to the Alberta Hip and Knee Clinic for assessment and treatment.
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Presently the activities of daily living have become quite challenging. I am in constant pain. I need help getting my left sock and shoe on and off. I walk slowly, with a pronounced limp, for only short distances. Household chores of vacuuming, cooking and yard work are difficult and exhausting.
Before I retired, I made pretty decent money, and paid my (significant) taxes. I have never drawn on social programs. I have started to collect back some of my CPP contributions, and my OAS. However, the system taxes and claws back much of that. All of this to say I have been a net financial contributor and have kept up my side of the bargain.
Part of this bargain was universal, free, “reasonably accessible”, health care. One common standard of care measure for “reasonably accessible” is a 26-week wait time for treatment. Maybe it should be shorter, or perhaps slightly longer could be acceptable. But, we might agree that an average of 104 weeks, four times the common standard, is not acceptable.
The Alberta Bone & Joint Health Institute measured Calgary wait times for hip replacements in Q1 2024 as 70 weeks for a surgical consultation. The subsequent wait for treatment averaged 34 weeks. So the average total wait is 104 weeks with a best case (25th percentile) of 66 weeks, or over 15 months.
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I believed that the delays were the result of a lack of resources (orthopedic surgeons and supporting facilities). However, a quick search of “hip replacements Calgary” found at least eight organizations and over 31 surgeons offering private surgeries, in private facilities, at patient expense with wait times of three to six weeks. These services are readily available right here in Calgary and many of the surgeons operate in both the public (AHS) system and the private system.
But, here’s the catch, you have to travel out of your home province for surgery. People from Alberta go to B.C., Manitoba, and Ontario for surgery; and people from B.C., Manitoba and Ontario come to Alberta for surgery. They all travel and pay for medically required and otherwise insured treatments using surgeons and facilities that are readily available throughout Canada. How dumb is that!
Why won’t Alberta pay for the private clinics to replace my hip?
In 2021/2022, in Canada about $1.26 billion was spent on all 117,078 hip & knee surgeries (primary & revisions) or about $10, 762 per procedure. In Alberta, the cost of primary hip replacements averaged $11, 059. The private clinics suggest a range of $10,500 to $16,800 for primary hip replacements.
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Why do I have to travel to get private treatment on my own?
Throughout Canada, private clinics all operate within this medical tourism model. The surgeons and facilities are readily available in our own neighbourhoods. The Canada Health Act is a poor excuse not to utilize everyone’s local resources; and then pretend that its prohibitions ensure universal healthcare.
If I do travel for treatment, why won’t Alberta pay a “standard” fee toward my treatment?
If the system I, and others, have funded for many years cannot, or will not, provide me reasonable access; then they should fund a basic fee and I could fund the difference.
I believe that the whole wait time issue boils down to money.
I feel that Alberta and federal health ministers hope many of us will drop out of the line by (i) paying ourselves, or (ii) dying. We suffer and they avoid the costs.
I have kept up my end of the bargain; it’s time for them to honour their obligation.
G. Barry Brett, Calgary
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