(Courier-Journal) — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, among the strongest congressional critics of socialized medicine, will have surgery in Canada later this month, according to a media report. However, a spokesperson for the Senator says that the hospital does not operate within the system.

The Courier-Journal is reporting that Paul plans to have hernia surgery the week of Jan. 21 in Ontario, Canada.

According to the newspaper, Paul says the operation is related to the 2017 attack by his Bowling Green neighbor Rene Boucher. The attack sidelined the commonwealth’s junior senator for weeks with six broken ribs and a bruised lung.

The report notes that Paul has been a consistent, fierce critic of socialized medicine, including saying in 2011 that it amounted to “slavery.”

“With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care … It means you believe in slavery,” Paul said in 2011. “You are going to enslave not only me but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants, the nurses. … You are basically saying you believe in slavery.”

Canada provides publicly funded, universal health care to its citizens.

A spokesperson for Paul responded to the Courier’s reporting, “This is more fake news on a story that has been terribly reported from day one – this is a private, world-renowned hospital separate from any system and people come from around the world to pay cash for their services.”