Earlier this year, when President Donald Trump began to renovate the government, Michael, made an emergency doctor, born and trained in the United States, made his bags and left with his family.
Michael now works in a small hospital in a city in Canada. KFF Health News and NPR have granted anonymity for fear that he can suffer from the Trump government when he returns to the United States.
He claims that he feels guilty because he has not remained to resist Trump’s agenda, but he is convinced of his decision to leave. He says that a large part of the country has become used to an environment of violence and cruelty.
“Part of being a doctor has to deal with affection for people who are in a situation of greater weakness,” said Michael. “I think our country has withdrawn and trampled the weak and vulnerable people.”
Michael is part of a new wave of doctors who have decided to leave the United States to escape the Trump government.
In the months since Trump was chosen again and brought back to the White House, American doctors have shown a growing interest in obtaining the license in Canada, where he has already authorized to practice a larger number than normal, according to Canadian officers who are responsible for granting licenses and contract companies.
The Medical Council of Canada said in an e -mail state that the number of American doctors who have drawn up accounts in Physicians saply.caThe “first step” is usually to obtain the license in Canada has increased more than 750% in the last seven months compared to the same period last year, from 71 applicants to 615.
On the other hand, the organizations for granting medical licenses in the most populated provinces in Canada reported an increase in Americans who request or receive Canadian licenses, and some of those doctors revealed that they were specifically moved by Trump.
“The doctors we are talking about are ashamed to say they are Americans,” said John Philpott, CEO of Canam Arts RecruitmentThose doctors recruit for Canada. “They say nothing else to get:” I have to leave this country. It is no longer what it was. “
Canada, which has financed a universal health system with public funds, has long been an option for doctors who have been trained in the United States looking for an alternative to the American health system.
Although it was more difficult for American doctors to practice in Canada because of the differences in medical training standards, the Canadian provinces have in recent years relaxed some rules for granting licenses and some accelerate the award of licenses to doctors trained in the United States.
The Trump administration has within a few months In danger to the economy With its rate policy, ha Ignore judicial orders y Dreque processand has threatened the sovereignty of the allies of the United States, Including Canada.
The administration has also taken measures that doctors can disturb specifically, such as naming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In order to lead federal health authorities, to divert funds for preparation for pandemies, Discourage and support health care for sex statement procedures, fluoride and support Deep cut -outs for medicaid.
The Trump administration did not want to comment on this article. When he was asked to respond to the escape of doctors in the United States in Canada, the spokesperson for the White House, Kush Desai, or KFF Health News asked the exact number of doctors and his ‘citizenship status’ and then did not comment. KFF Health News did not have that information.
Philpott, who founded Canam doctor in the nineties, said that the crossborder movement of American and Canadian doctors had been fluctuating for decades in response to political and economic conditions, but that interest in Canada had never been as strong as it is now.
Philpott said that Canam registered an increase of 65% of the number of American doctors looking for work in Canada between January and April, and that the company received requests from American doctors per day.
Rohini Patel, recruiter of Canam and Medical, said that some are willing to accept lower salts to move quickly.
“They are ready to move to Canada tomorrow,” he said. “They are not worried about what their salary will be.”
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, which is responsible for granting licenses in the most densely populated province of Canada, said in a statement that 116 doctors in the United States registered in the first quarter of 2025 in the United States, which represents an increase of at least 50% with regard to the two quarters.
British Columbia, another very populated province, experienced an increase in medical licensing requests that were formed in the United States after the election day, according to a statement sent by e -mail from the College of Physicians and surgeons of British Columbia. The statement also indicated that the organization had granted the license to 28 doctors of this type in the tax year ending in February, the triple that the previous year.
The Quebec College of Physicians said that the requests of doctors who have been trained in the United States have increased, as well as the number of Canadian doctors who return from the United States to practice in the province, but have not provided specific data. In a statement, the organization said that some applicants were trying to get permission to practice in Canada “specifically because of the current presidential administration”.
Michael, the doctor who moved to Canada this year, said he feared what he described as an escalation of right -wing political rhetoric and armed violence without control in the United States, of the last he was directly witnessed by a decade in the first aid.
Michael said the move began to consider when Trump seemed to be recovering the election in 2020. His turning point arrived on January 6, 2021, when a violent peat of Trump followers attacked the Capitol of the United States in an attempt to prevent the certification of the election of Joe Biden as president.
“Civil speech fell apart,” he said. “I had a conversation with my family about how Biden would become a single mandate president and how we continued to continue to a growing radicalization on the right and the acceptance of vigilance (where people take the right in their hands).”
Then Michael lasted about a year to obtain the license in Canada, and even more to specify and move his work, he said. Although the process to obtain the “was not difficult” license, according to him, it requires to obtain certified documents from his Faculty of Medicine and his residence program.
“The process was no more difficult than obtaining the first license in the United States, which is also very bureaucratic,” said Michael. “The difference is that I think that most people who exercise in the United States are so tired of administrative procedures who do not want to go through that process again.”
Michael said that now receives electronic Correos or SMS messages from colleagues who are looking for advice to move to Canada.
This desire to leave has also attracted the attention of Hippocratic adventuresA small company that helps American doctors to exercise medicines in other countries.
The company was combined by Ashwini Bapat, a doctor who moved to Portugal in Yale in 2020, partly because “it was terrified that Trump would win again.” For years Hippocratic Adventures attended doctors with a traveling spirit, who guided them through bureaucracy to obtain licenses in other countries or to carry out remotely counting medicine, Bapat explained.
But after Trump’s election, customers no longer searched for large journeys around the world. Now they are looking for the nearest emergency exit, according to Bapat.
“Before it was the adventure,” Bapat explained. “But the biggest increase we saw without a doubt was then Trump won re election in November. And then, the day of taking possession. And in fact every day since then.”
At least one Canadian province actively promotes American doctors.
Doctors ManitobaWho represents the doctors of this rural province who suffer from one of the worst escases of doctors in Canada, launched a recruitment campaign after the elections to take advantage of the rejection of Trump and the rise of the extreme correct policy in the United States.
The campaign focuses on Florida and Dakota del Norte and del Sur, and announces how “Zero political interference In the medical patient relationship ”.
Alison Carleton, a general practitioner who moved from Iowa to Manitoba in 2017, said he left to escape the daily routine of the American health system, aimed at profit, and because he was shocked that Trump was chosen for the first time.
Carleton said that he is now leading a clinic in a small town with little stress, less paperwork and without fear that his patients will be drowned by medical debts.
Last year he resigned from his American citizenship.
“The people I know tell me:” You just left in time, “said Carleton.” I answer: “I know. When are you moving? “”
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