B.C. to stop sending cancer patients to U.S. for treatment

The health minister says shorter wait times in B.C. are allowing the province to “wind down” a program that sent patients to Washington state for radiation.

A program that sent cancer patients from B.C. south of the border for radiation treatments will soon “wind down,” the health minister announced Monday.

For the past two years, patients facing long wait times for crucial treatment have had the option of travelling to Washington state to access care – with an average of 50 people opting into the program at its peak, according to the province.

In total, 1,107 patients have received therapy stateside since 2023.

“Our priority has always been to ensure that cancer patients have timely access to life-saving treatment while we build and strengthen B.C.’s public health-care system for the long-term,” Health Minister Josie Osborne said in a statement.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made over the past two years, we can now safely wind down this temporary program and focus on getting patients the care they need in B.C.”

Osborne said data on wait times from February of 2025 show 93 per cent of patients are waiting fewer than four week for treatment, compared to 69 per cent when the program began.

Contracts with the U.S. clinics are set to expire in May and will not be renewed, the statement concluded.