STORY: Patient shares great surgical experience in Mexico

In late 2024, Marcel Latouche, a patient from Calgary, Alberta, contacted SecondStreet.org about his search for hip surgery. Latouche had been using our PatientOptions.ca website – a site we launched to help patients as they look for timely surgery and health services.

Latouche ultimately decided to travel to Mexico for surgery. While SecondStreet.org does not endorse any health facilities, we are sharing a summary of his experience as it may help patients as they seek timely treatment outside of the public system. The following is what he shared with us:

“I turned 80 in early January 2025. I have been a competitive tennis player since I was 16 years old. I stopped playing tennis some 7 years ago when I found a new sport and compete at the national level in Pickleball.

Some 4 years ago I consulted a sport medicine doctor on the advice of my GP and I was diagnosed that I needed a hip replacement. While I waited for my surgery, I underwent physiotherapy that allowed me to continue playing and have a somewhat comfortable life.

I finally was contacted by the Alberta Hip and Knee Clinic for a consultation which confirmed that I needed surgery and was put on the ‘Fast List’. For months I waited for a call from the clinic. In November 2024, I sent numerous emails and made several calls, asking for a window for surgery, but never got a reply to any of my correspondence.

Then I found SecondStreet.org, the source for real information about the state of health care in Canada. They discuss many issues including private care both in Canada and abroad. They have information that would allow frustrated patients like me to make educated decisions about their health.

Coincidence have it that a friend, a former AHS employee, informed me of a place in Mexico that could perform my surgery. Armed with information from SecondStreet.org, and doing research about surgery abroad, I contacted CMQ Bucerias to see what they could do for me. Within days I had a consult and a date for my surgery. So instead of waiting in Canada, I decided to have surgery in Mexico.

Once in Mexico I was impressed by the facilities, the professionalism of my surgeon Dr. Franciso Del toro Lomeli, the internal medicine Dr. Carlos Ochoa del Toro Lomeli, and the rest of the team.

My surgery went well, I was given all the necessary care by a very attentive nursing staff and physiotherapist.

The irony of this story is that on January 08, 2025, hours after my surgery, the first call was from my brother, an hour later I received a call from Calgary Hip and Knee surgery, trying to contact me to schedule a date for surgery. I am not the only person who had this experience as another patient with me received a similar call one hour before going into surgery at CMQ – coincidence?

I am very glad to have found an alternative to the broken Canadian health care system. As I recuperate, I may be playing again soon as I am feeling pretty good.

Marcel Latouche
Former President & CEO
The Institute for Public Sector Accountability
March 21, 2025

 

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Prevention – reduce demand in the first place

If Canadians lived healthier lives, we could reduce demand for emergency services, orthopaedic surgeries, primary care and more. 

For instance, if you visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll read that “about four in ten” cancer cases are preventable. The Heart and Stroke Foundation notes that “almost 80 percent of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours.” A similar number of Diabetes cases are also preventable. 

Many joint replacements and visits to ERs and walk-in clinics could also be avoided through healthy living. 

To be sure, not all health problems can be avoided through healthy living – everyday the system treats Canadians with genetic conditions, helps those injured in unavoidable accidents and more.  

But there is an opportunity to reduce pressure on the health care system through Canadians shifting to healthier lifestyles – better diets, more exercise, etc. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this column. 

Partner with non-profits and for-profit clinics

European countries will partner with anyone who can help patients. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s a non-profit, a government entity or a private clinic. What matters is that patients receive quality treatment, in a timely manner and for a competitive price.  

In Canada, governments often delivery services using government-run hospitals instead of seeing if non-profit or private clinics could deliver the services more effectively. 

When governments have partnered with non-profit and private clinics, the results have often been quite good – Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia are just a few examples of where partnerships have worked well. 

Canada should pursue more of these partnerships to reduce wait times and increase the volume of services provided to patients.  

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see the links above. 

Make cross border care more accessible

In Canada, citizens pay high taxes each year and we’re promised universal health care services in return. The problem is, wait times are often extremely long in our health system – sometimes patients have to wait years to see a specialist or receive surgery. 

If patients don’t want to wait long periods, they often have to reach into their own pocket and pay for treatment outside the province or country. 

Throughout the European Union, we also find universal health care systems. But a key difference is that EU patients have the right to go to other EU countries, pay for surgery and then be reimbursed by their home government. Reimbursements cover up to what the patient’s home government would have spent to provide the treatment locally. 

If Canada copied this approach, a patient waiting a year to get their hip operation could instead receive treatment next week in one of thousands of surgical clinics throughout the developed world. 

Governments benefit too as the patient is now back on their feet and avoiding complications that sometimes come with long wait times – meaning the government doesn’t have to treat those complications on top of the initial health problem. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or this shorter video. 

Legalize access to non-government providers

Canada is the only country in the world that puts up barriers, or outright bans patients from paying for health services locally. 

For instance, a patient in Toronto cannot pay for a hip operation at a private clinic in Toronto. Their only option is to wait for the government to eventually provide treatment or leave the province and pay elsewhere. 

Countries with better-performing universal health care systems do not have such bans. They allow patients a choice – use the public system or pay privately for treatment. Sweden, France, Australia and more – they all allow choice. 

Why? One reason is that allowing choice means some patients will decide to pay privately. This takes pressure off the public system. For instance, in Sweden, 87% of patients use the public system, but 13% purchase private health insurance. 

Ultimately, more choice improves access for patients. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or watch this short clip on this topic. 

Shift to funding services for patients, not bureaucracies

In Canada, most hospitals receive a cheque from the government each year and are then asked to do their best to help patients. This approach is known as “block funding”. 

Under this model, a patient walking in the door represents a drain on the hospital’s budget. Over the course of a year, hospital administrators have to make sure the budget stretches out so services are rationed. This is why you might have to wait until next year or the year after for a hip operation, knee operation, etc. 

In better-performing universal health systems, they take the opposite approach – hospitals receive money from the government each time they help a patient. If a hospital completes a knee operation, it might receive, say, $10,000. If it completes a knee operation on another patient, it receives another $10,000. 

This model incentivizes hospitals to help more patients – to help more patients with knee operations, cataract surgery, etc. This approach also incentivizes hospitals to spend money on expenses that help patients (e.g. more doctors, nurses, equipment, etc.) rather than using the money on expenses that don’t help patients (e.g. more admin staff). 

To learn more about this policy option, please watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this post by MEI.