Our health system in British Columbia covers any resident in B.C. (BCMSP) The catch is, you have to be enrolled. Yet, believe it or not, some people don't bother do it.
It seems that BCMSP isn't too sticky about when you pay because my work *forgot* to pay my premiums for three months - and everything was still covered, retroactively. As long as you are a resident, you will be covered. They seem to be quite nice on the phone and willing to work with a person to get any errors straightened out.
If you make less than $22K per year, you do not pay anything for your Medical coverage. There is 100% premium assistance. The more you make, the more you pay (see chart mid-page). The working poor can afford monthly payments.
The maximum you would ever pay as a single would be $60.50 per month, a family of two would pay $109.00 per month and a family of three or more would pay $121.00 per month. No co-pays (a Canadian doesn't know what co-pay means) and it doesn't matter what pre-existing illness you have.
When I lived in the USA, I knew all kinds of people who would love the benefits of our plans above. When my husband quit his job in Washington State to move up here, he was offered COBRA coverage at $600 per month plus a high co-pay. His co-pays were fairly substantial ($5K deductible per year for single, $10K per year for a couple ) when he did have his insurance.
You would never hear a Canadian pay *that* without complaining. Canadians complain when they have to pay an extra $8 if they happen to go to a certain drugstore that charges an extra dispensing fee (there are some that would include it with the medication - for those that get their medications covered by the government )
I mention all this because my American-born husband just came back from the MD (Dr Johnny Depp) and asked me why they didn't want to see his extended medical card - only his BCMSP card? I had to explain to him that there were no such thing as co-pays and that BCMSP covered the entire visit - that our other cards from our employer (paid for entirely by the employer at no cost to us) coveres our Dental, medication, Travel Medical and excess medical plus ambulance, chiropractor, naturopath, massage therapy, physiotherapy, private room, eyeglasses etc. Our employers also pay our BCMSP premiums for us.
My husband is still trying to acclimatize himself to the system here.
10 comments:
Sounds confusing kind of to me too, but it sounds like the system there in Canada is more beneficial to the patients. Tell him to hang in there!
no wonder you are confused....I forgot to put the ">" symbol where it was supposed to be. I am confusing u!
oh well. I guess I am a little confused myself.... :(
My friend Phiddy moved to Ontario a few years ago and has really been witness to some wonderful medical “miracles”. When she and I lived in USA we compared notes about decisions we had to make along the lines of Medicine or Food; Doc visit or car insurance payment; psychologist or medicine....
I hope and work for a single payer system for your poor neighbors to the south. Kaiser (kp.org) is as close as we have come so far.
I edited the entry just to make it clearer....sorry about that!
Linda: I used to work for Kaiser at one point and it was fairly similar - at that time - that was a long time ago.
Anyone who says universal health is not sustainable isn't looking at the facts.
One thing my husband notices...he doesn't have to worry about an illness depleting his retirement savings or losing his home. He says it is a weight off his shoulders.
Here is a great article:
http://medicare.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/sustainability-factsheet-english-june-161.pdf
Woah. Woah. WOAH. Hold the phone. You mean to tell me message therapy is covered under ya'll insurance plan?
Hmmm. So tell me about Canada's immigration policies. ;-)
It used to be...but now it's covered by my work plan which covers everything BCMSP doesn't. :) I think our yearly deductible is $25 give or take a couple dollars...
It's easier for R.Ns to come here...there is somewhat of a shortage in places... as for my husband...one and a half inches of paperwork was a chore.... :(
You can claim massage therapy on your income taxes as a deduction.
MSP is a service, so not all 'goods' (fibreglass casts, take home med packs) are covered but are generally charged at cost plus a bit.
Hey there Mom's! Thanks for visiting :)
There are a lot of things you can claim as a deduction on your taxes, including travel and expenses including food for yourself and partner if you have to travel to an MD appt, also our hottub can be an income tax deduction if we had got a MD rx for it! My husband and I have massage therapy, acupuncture, naturopath, and all those types of services are covered by our "extra insurance" from work...at no cost to us. :)
Yes, it's great. I work in health care billings. :)
I have had nothing but great experiences with BCMSP billings whenever I have phoned with problems... they are all so nice and helpful over there (which is different from what I have read, about some of the American insurance people...)
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