Foreign visitors have incurred nearly $40 million in unpaid medical expenses in Manitoba over the past five years, provincial data shows.
A report from SecondStreet.org, based on information from Manitoba’s health authority, indicates that the province has been left with $39.62 million in unpaid medical bills from fiscal 2020-2021 to fiscal 2024-2025.
SecondStreet.org President Colin Craig said the issue of tourists leaving without paying their medical bills is costing taxpayers “millions of dollars while access to health care for Manitobans continues to deteriorate.”
“If the government addressed this problem, it could have millions of dollars to actually help Manitobans,” he said in the report. “For perspective, $40 million could provide almost 3,400 patients with a unilateral hip replacement operation.”…