Canada
In Canada, waiting is often the only free option.
This is the fact that changes the whole conversation, and most companies in this market never mention it.
If a procedure is publicly covered in your province, you usually can’t pay privately for it at home. So a Canadian who doesn’t want to keep waiting has three options, not four: keep waiting, travel to another province, or leave the country.
That means we’re not asking you to choose India over free surgery. If you’re considering paying at all, you’re already a medical traveller. The only remaining question is where you go, and whether you need the operation at all.
The structural fact
Why paying privately at home is usually not available to you.
The Canada Health Act prohibits extra-billing and user charges for insured services. Provinces implement this in their own legislation, and in practice a surgeon who works within the public system generally can’t accept private payment from you for a procedure that system covers.
The intent of that law is fair access, and it is a reasonable piece of policy. But it has a specific consequence for you personally. When the wait becomes intolerable, your money can’t buy you a faster operation in your own province, however much of it you have.
This is different from the United Kingdom or Ireland, where a private hospital down the road is a normal and legal alternative.
Canada Health Act; provincial legislation, for example the Ontario Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act section 10 Checked 2026-08-19.
What this means in practice
Canadians already travel for medical care in real numbers, and they pay for it themselves.
105,529
Canadians are estimated to have travelled abroad for medical care in 2025
Fraser Institute Checked 2026-08-19.
A think tank estimate based on a physician survey. Directional only, not a government figure.
If you’re reading this page, you may already be one of them. The decision you’re making is about destination and quality, not about whether to pay.
Wait times, honestly
Two Canadian sources disagree. Here are both.
You'll see the more dramatic number quoted everywhere. It comes from a think tank survey, and you should know that before you rely on it.
The government body
68 percent
of hip replacements and 61 percent of knee replacements happened within the recommended 26 week benchmark in 2024
CIHI, Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada 2025 Checked 2026-08-19.
CIHI measures the wait from the decision to operate onward. The wait from referral to first consultation is not counted, so the wait a patient actually experiences is longer.
65 percent
of hip and knee replacements combined met the 182 day benchmark, April to September 2025
CIHI, released June 2026 Checked 2026-08-19.
The think tank
The Fraser Institute reports a median wait of 28.6 weeks from GP referral to treatment, and 48.6 weeks for orthopaedic surgery
Fraser Institute, 2025 Checked 2026-08-19.
A survey of physicians with 1,577 responses and a 13.1 percent response rate, from an organisation with a declared policy position. It measures the whole journey including the referral wait. We use CIHI as the public number and treat this as directional.
The honest synthesis
Roughly one in three Canadians misses the benchmark on the surgical wait alone, and there is an uncounted wait from referral to first consultation on top of that. That’s a real and substantial problem for the people it affects.
It isn’t the near-total system collapse the 48.6 week figure suggests when it is quoted on its own. We use the government figure as our public number and treat the survey as directional, because we would rather you trusted us on the second thing we tell you.
The argument against us
Mexico is four hours away. India isn't.
Any company that tells you India is obviously the right destination without mentioning Mexico isn’t being straight with you. Mexico is a short flight from most Canadian cities, it has a large and established medical travel sector, and for many straightforward procedures it is the more rational choice.
Mexico took approximately 2.9 billion Canadian dollars of health tourism in 2025
Secondary reporting Checked 2026-08-19.
Directional. Included because it is the honest objection to the Canada argument, not because it helps us.
We’re also not going to pretend Canadian waits are collapsing. Surgical volumes have recovered from the pandemic backlog in many provinces. We’re not riding a worsening trend, and we should not claim to be.
So when does India win?
When the case is complex enough that the difference is measured in tens of thousands rather than a few thousand, and when the specific expertise you need is practised in volume.
Revision joint surgery. Complex spinal work. Cardiac surgery. Cases where a straightforward package price doesn’t apply because your case isn’t straightforward.
For a simple first-time hip or knee replacement, we would usually tell you to look closer to home first. We say that on the Why India page too.
If your family is from India
For a lot of Canadian families, this isn't a foreign country.
1,858,755
people of Indian origin live in Canada
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Checked 2026-08-19.
If you have family in India, the calculation is different. The flight isn’t a barrier to be overcome, it is a trip you may already make. There is somewhere to recover that isn’t a hotel, and someone to be with you who isn’t on a payroll.
We see this most often with adult children arranging care for a parent who would rather be treated where they can be understood, in a place that feels familiar. That is a completely legitimate reason, and it is often the deciding one.
What doesn’t change is the part we do. You still need to know whether the operation is necessary, whether the surgeon is right for the case, and what happens when your parent comes back to Canada and needs follow-up here.
Canada specific
Six things to sort out before you commit.
Your provincial coverage while abroad
Provincial health plans provide very limited or no coverage for planned treatment outside Canada. Check your own province’s rules directly rather than assuming, because they differ and they change.
Whether your insurance covers planned treatment abroad
Many travel and private policies specifically exclude elective treatment you have travelled for. Read the exclusion, not the summary, and get confirmation in writing.
Who will do your follow-up in Canada
Ask your family doctor before you travel, not after. If you don’t have a family doctor, which is the reality for a great many Canadians, say so early because it changes the plan significantly.
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation at home
For joint and spinal surgery this is a real cost in Canada and it is often not covered. Price it before you travel and include it in your total, not after.
Your Indian visa
There is a specific medical visa category, and an attendant category for whoever travels with you. Check the current requirements with the official Indian visa service for Canada, because these rules change and we will not restate them here as though they were fixed.
Flight timing and fitness to fly
Canada to India is a long journey, often with a connection. Ask your own doctor whether you’re fit to fly, both ways, and book a return you can move. Recovery does not follow the plan reliably.
Questions
What Canadian patients ask us.
Will my provincial health plan reimburse any of this?
Generally no for planned treatment abroad, and where any provision exists it usually requires prior approval on the basis that the treatment is unavailable in Canada. Check with your own province directly. We’ll help you find the right rule, but we will not tell you what your province will do, because that is theirs to say and it changes.
I am on a waiting list. Should I just wait?
Often, yes. If your wait is measured in a few months and your pain is manageable, waiting is usually the right answer and we’ll tell you so. The calculation changes when the wait is long, the pain is disabling, or your case is complex enough that the expertise you need is scarce here.
Why not Mexico, or the United States?
Mexico is a serious option and is much closer, particularly for straightforward procedures. The United States is usually the most expensive self-pay market in the world. Our argument for India is specific to complex and high value cases, not a general claim that India beats everywhere.
My family doctor won't discuss treatment abroad. What do I do?
This is common and it is usually about liability rather than disapproval. Bringing a written independent opinion from named specialists, with the records it is based on, changes that conversation considerably. It’s a great deal harder to dismiss than a printout from a website.
Find out whether travelling is the right answer for you.
A free twenty minute conversation. If waiting is the better option, we’ll say so.