Christopher Liew is a CFP®, CFA Charterholder and former financial advisor. He writes personal finance tips for thousands of daily Canadian readers at Blueprint Financial.
Waiting the better part of a year for a specialist or a new knee is enough to make anyone look at clinics in Mexico or Europe. More Canadians are doing exactly that.
If you’re going to pay for care abroad, though, I think it’s worth treating it as a financial decision as much as a medical one. Below, I’ll look at what’s driving the trend and what to know about coverage, insurance, and taxes before you book.
What’s behind the rise
A recent study estimates that 105,529 Canadians travelled abroad for medical treatment in 2025, as CTV News reported. Urology, general surgery, internal medicine procedures like colonoscopies, and eye care topped the list.
The study’s co-author said more Canadians are deciding they need to leave the country to get care in a timely manner. It’s not hard to see why. The median wait from a family doctor’s referral to treatment was 28.6 weeks in 2025, more than triple the wait in 1993, according to right-wing thinktank the Fraser Institute.
Things aren’t improving everywhere, either. As CTV News reported last month, Canadian Institute for Health Information data shows median wait times rose for eight of 12 priority procedures in Ontario between 2017 and 2025.
I get the frustration. That being said, I’m not here to tell you whether to go. My job is to make sure you know what you’re signing up for financially.
1. Ask whether your province or territory will pay before you book
Before you put down a deposit, ask your doctor whether your province or territory has a way to fund care outside the country. In my experience, plenty of people have never heard of these programs.
In Ontario, for example, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) may cover some medical services at a licensed hospital or facility outside Canada if your Ontario doctor recommends them. But you need written approval from the Ministry of Health before you receive the care, not after. The bar is high, too: generally, the treatment must be unavailable in Ontario, or the delay must put you at risk of death or irreversible harm.
I wouldn’t count on approval, and every province and territory sets its own rules. If you live outside Ontario, call your provincial or territorial health ministry and ask specifically about out-of-country prior approval. That conversation costs you nothing and could save you thousands.
2. Budget for the whole trip, not just the procedure
Your real cost includes flights, accommodation, meals, and time off work. It may also include the same expenses for someone travelling with you to help during recovery. Then there’s follow-up care and any prescriptions once you’re home.
Say a clinic’s quote looks like a bargain next to the wait at home. Add two return flights, two weeks in a hotel, and a few weeks of lost income, and your all-in number can climb well past it. The federal government’s medical tourism guidance recommends getting written agreements that spell out exactly what your fees cover. I’d go further and ask for an itemized quote covering the surgeon, anesthesia, hospital stay, medications, and what happens if you need a second procedure.
I’d also build a cushion for an unplanned extra week abroad. If you have to borrow to make this work, get the full number in front of you before signing anything.
3. Don’t assume you’re insured
This is the one that worries me most. Travel insurance is built for unexpected emergencies, and the same federal guidance warns that most travel insurance policies won’t cover planned medical procedures in another country. I’d assume your workplace plan and credit card coverage don’t cover it either until you see otherwise in writing.
Don’t count on your provincial or territorial plan to fill that gap. Federal guidance warns that these plans may not cover complications in the country where you had your procedure, and even where Ontario’s out-of-country emergency coverage applies, it’s capped at daily rates that won’t go far in a foreign hospital. OHIP also won’t pay to transfer you home if you end up hospitalized abroad.
The government suggests buying comprehensive health insurance that covers medical procedures in other countries, so read every exclusion before you buy. If you want to go deeper, I walked through provincial coverage limits, medical evacuation costs, and the difference between travel insurance and real coverage abroad in a Blueprint Financial video.
4. Keep every receipt for tax time
The CRA lists medical services outside Canada as an eligible expense for the medical expense tax credit, though purely cosmetic procedures don’t qualify. Travel costs are a separate question: the CRA only allows them in specific circumstances, such as when comparable care isn’t available near home, so don’t assume your flights and hotel will count. And it’s a non-refundable credit on expenses above an income-based threshold, so it trims your tax bill rather than paying you back.
I covered this credit in a column earlier this year, and I think it’s underrated. You can claim expenses paid in any 12-month period ending in the tax year, which gives you some flexibility if your costs span two calendar years. If you have a spouse or common-law partner, compare who should claim it, since the credit depends partly on net income.
Keep itemized receipts showing who you paid, and only claim what insurance didn’t reimburse. If your receipts aren’t in English or French, I’d get them translated now while the clinic is still easy to reach.
Final thoughts
With wait times where they are, I don’t expect this trend to reverse anytime soon, and I understand why more Canadians are making the trip. Treat it like any other major financial decision: know the full number, get it in writing, and have a backup plan. A procedure that looks affordable online can get expensive quickly without that preparation. With it, going abroad can be a reasonable way to get your life back.
