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▲ nickff 2 hours ago

>"I'm fond of pointing out the stat (true as of a year ago) that Massachusetts (I think it's MA?) has more MRI machines than the entire country of Canada."

Long wait times (6-12 months+) for MRIs (due to a lack of both machines and technicians) are a frequent complaint by Canadians.

▲nradov 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Yep. Wealthy Canadians often come to the USA as medical tourists and pay cash to skip the queue at home for elective procedures like MRIs or joint replacements.

▲Teever 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You can pay for MRIs in Canada. My friend needed one and he had it within the week for $800.

I think private MRIs have been around, at least in my province anyways, for close to 30 years.

▲Aurornis an hour ago | parent | next [-]

That’s about 2X as expensive as the cash pay MRIs near me in the United States, which is interesting. You don’t have to wait a week here, but that’s to be expected with how many MRI machines are all over the place. For specialty imaging like contrast or doing time resolved MRI you do have to wait a little longer to get someone qualified to do it properly. Some of those take a little more expertise that the cash walk-in places aren’t good for.

▲juliusdavies 5 minutes ago | parent [-]

$800 CAD is around $600 USD

▲CosmicShadow an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Hmm, that's good information to have, I had no idea. I just had an MRI appointment that I had completely forgotten about or what it was for I was waiting so long (and obviously not having the issue for anymore). I'll know this for next time and consider it.

▲EA-3167 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

$800!!

Jesus... I can get a chest-abdomen-pelvis MRI on US insurance for less than half of that, and the lead time is measured in weeks at most.

▲excannuk 31 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

▲Roland303 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

▲harimau777 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I think the actual issue is that America often has infinite wait times because people can't afford the procedure.

▲Roland303 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh yes I see, America bad, got it.