but its sad that people have to go through so much to get the help they need.

I realize our health care cannot cover every single new experimental treatment out there, but I think there should be some kind of fund for people who have zero options left and if there is a treatment elsewhere that may help, even if it's experimental.

I'm glad someone out there was generous enough to help this woman to have some hope, finally.

Is that why Medicare does not pay for it?

Otherwise, I thought that with Medicare, Canadians never needed to worry about the cost of any medical procedure.

I remember being surprised when I was visiting Canada and seeing a couple of ads for fundraising events to help particular individuals pay for medical expenses.

and they just don't cover that. Our medical system has been failing due to underfunding for years anyhow. For example, hip and knee surgeries basically considered "elective" for some reason and sometimes people have to wait for 2 years or more. And they won't do knees before a person is I think 60 or some ridiculous age even if they can't walk when they're 50.

Yes, there are always fundraising events going on, because even if the medical procedure is covered, the families are sometimes strapped if they are having to stay in another city for any length of time and can't work etc. The children's hospitals are usually in the biggest cities and the families can live 1,000 miles or more away so they have the choice of uprooting and staying with their sick kid who needs them, or working to feed the family and pay the mortgage. That happens alot, but communities are usually pretty good about helping out.

Thanks for the information, arikara