A health insurance company in Canada is about to offer an innovative insurance program to Canadians. The company’s new insurance policy will make it easier for Canadians to receive health care at the Mayo Clinic, (which is located in the United States). This new insurance will not be available in Quebec.
The Mayo Clinic is a non-profit medical practice and medical research group. It is not just one building, or just one campus of health care facilities. The Mayo clinic is located primarily in Rochester, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Florida, and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona. There are over 70 hospitals and clinics that are a part of the Mayo Clinic located in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
The Mayo Clinic is highly regarded, and was recently named in the U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll of top hospitals in the 2010 version of the magazine’s “America’s Best Hospitals” issue. It is easy to see why people would want to be treated at the Mayo Clinic. It has an international division, for patients that are from countries other than the United States.
There is no equivalent hospital or clinic system in Canada. This means that Canadians who seek treatment at the Mayo Clinic would typically be facing some extra expenses in order to do it. That is, until now.
A Canadian insurance firm called MyCare is offering a new type of health insurance policy to all Canadians, (except for those who live in Quebec). What this “unprecedented” insurance will do is provide coverage for Canadians that are seen at the Mayo Clinic. MyCare insurance is going to be co-operating with the physicians of individual Canadian patients.
This will allow Canadians to get a “timely first or second opinion” of diagnosis for serious illnesses or major orthopedic issues from the Mayo Clinic, and have it covered by their health insurance. The insurance also covers any “additional diagnostics or on-site care or treatment” that the patient needs and has done at the Mayo Clinic. It will cost a family $102.00 per month for this insurance, (for non-smokers aged 40 to 49). A family that has non-smokers that are under age 40 will pay $68.00 per month for this insurance.
As far as I can tell, this new form of Canadian health insurance is not going to have any affect at all on the things that are currently going on with American health insurance. In other words, Americans don’t need to have concerns about the influx of Canadian patients putting a strain on the already stressed American health care system. These Canadian patients will all have health insurance coverage.
This doesn’t mean that the new insurance provides a perfect solution, however. The facility director at Maples Surgical Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, Dr. Mark Godley, has concerns about follow up care. It might be difficult for Canadian patients to find Canadian doctors that are willing to provide follow up care for treatment or procedures that were done at a hospital in the United States.
Image by Jody McNary Photography on Flickr