Alarming. Frustrating. Inefficient. Inhumane.

These are just a few of the words that describe what many Ontarians must be feeling, confronted with the news that out-of-country health care is a booming business that is putting more strain an our already stretched public health plan and causing huge anxiety and stress for citizens already struggling in the face of serious illness.

This, in a nutshell, is what is revealed in this week's Metroland Special Report on Cross-Border Care (find the series at thespec.com). The report, the first of what will be an ongoing public service initiative by Metroland newspapers across Ontario, uncovers the out-of-control growth in cases where patients are buying U.S. or international health care because they can't find, or can't get timely access to, health services, including some types of surgery, drug treatments, new medical technology and even basic tests such as MRIs.

The series shows Ontario's spending on out-of-Canada medical services has tripled in five years, a shocking 450 per cent increase. In 2001, OHIP funded 2,110 procedures; in 2008, it paid for 11,775.

Let's be clear: This is not an indictment of our universal health-care system. Patients receiving international care for approved treatments are being funded by OHIP, although not always in timely fashion. This is not any sort of proof that U.S.-style health care is superior to our admittedly imperfect system. We don't have millions of citizens with no access to care as is the case in the U.S. And we know that our health-care delivery is considerably cheaper than the U.S. version, which raises disturbing questions about why we'd pay into a system that's less efficient than our own.

This is a twisted metamorphosis of our out-of-country funding system, which is intended to provide a safety net when health-care recipients can't find proper care here at home. Instead, more and more of us are going south or further afield even for basic services. Yet we're continuing to pay health premiums here, and health care continues to consume a massive part -- nearly half -- of all provincial spending. And keep this in mind: the numbers noted above only deal with health procedures funded by OHIP. There are countless more cases where Ontarians are paying for their own out-of-country health care, so they don't show up on any radar.

Why is this happening? The series suggests a number of causes, chief among them the ongoing shortage of health-care professionals, a lag in Ontario's ability to keep up with new technologies and health standards (genetic testing is a good example), unacceptably long wait-times and inadequate investment in health infrastructure.

Did you know Ontario is a major bulk buyer of American health care? The province has "preferred provider" contracts with about 40 American medical service providers, for services such as diagnostics, cancer care, adolescent behaviour disorders and bariatrics. This, at the same time as our own health-care infrastructure is being starved of investment.

This is unacceptable. It's unacceptable that the government doesn't have an adequate measurement of the scope of the problem, though it does acknowledge the alarming growth in out-of-jurisdiction OHIP claims. It's unacceptable that while there is recognition of the problem, there is little measurable action other than good intentions. It's also unproductive to blame past governments, which Health Minister Deb Matthews has already done, citing the Harris-era cutbacks.

We need our government to focus on fixing this problem; on making more headway on wait times, on investing in emerging health technologies, on making a dent in the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

There will always be a need for a safety net, and there will always be health-care consumers who want to pay themselves for vanity tests or unrecognized treatments. We won't eliminate out-of-province health spending by individuals and government. But at least we need to stem its alarming growth, especially for basic services Ontario is quite capable of providing here at home, provided there is requisite strategic investment and political will.