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When it comes to the wave of Canadians looking for medical treatment beyond this country's borders, the numbers don't lie.

A Metroland investigation reveals Ontario government spending has tripled in the past five years on those seeking out-of-Canada medical services, going from $56.3 million in 2005 to $164.3 million in 2010. And the number of Ontarians getting care beyond our borders -- those whose cases were covered by OHIP -- has jumped 450 per cent from 2,110 in 2001 to 11,775 last year. There are many more who've simply paid out of their own pockets.

What can the Ontario government do to reduce this trend and meet the needs of these patients here at home?

The key is to reduce long wait times. But the issue is complex, tied up in a spiralling health ministry budget that chews up 43 cents of every Ontario budget dollar taken in.

In 2003-04, the Province spent $29.2 billion on health care. In the 2009-10 budget year, Ontario will commit a whopping $42.6 billion toward health-care costs. And, with an ever-increasing, ever-aging population, the bills will only trend upward in the future.

It's clear that if it were only a matter of throwing money at the problem, wait times would be reduced and fewer Canadians would be looking for cancer treatments, knee replacements and bariatric surgery -- used to reduced stomach size for morbidly obese patients -- elsewhere. It shouldn't be necessary to wait months to get an MRI or simple CT scan. And yet, a check of the McGuinty government's Wait Times Strategy suggests some levels of success. Using current statistics, the Ministry claims that wait times, since 2005, for MRIs are down 14 days; for cancer surgeries, down 14 days; for knee replacements, down 256 days; and for CT scans, down 46 days.

And yet, many thousands still board airplanes and fly to other countries or drive across the border to get the care they don't want to wait for, or can't get here.

In the legislature Nov. 26, NDP leader Andrea Horwath referred to the Metroland cross-border health series and put Health Minister Deb Matthews on the spot over the flow of out-of-country patients.

"Patients are losing access to local care as the McGuinty government shells out more money to private American providers," said Ms. Horwath.

Ms. Matthews conceded there was a problem and said, "There has been a dramatic increase in out-of-country health care. We are very focused on bringing that number back down."

The Province is spending about $400 million to try to cut emergency room wait times, but it must target procedure wait times if it wants to stem the flow of patients heading out of Ontario. Its Wait Times Strategy needs a more focused effort from the minister and her staff and more resources including doctors, nurses and equipment if it is to keep patients from going somewhere else to get care. In the end, it will cost money. But the minister has indicated she is committed to fixing this problem and we expect to see dramatic wait time improvements and a reduction in cross-border medical treatment.