Canada People a question/from Beth
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AnonymousApril 16, 2008 at 5:05 pm
My husband is a Canadian Citzen. He has been thinking of returning to Canada due to the expense of CIDP treatment in the states. Even being on Medicare and a supplement some meds, like CellCept are not covered.
Does the Canadian insurance cover IVIG, Plasmaphresis, CellCept, Prednisone, Imuran, and all of the other tests and procedures that go with this disease.
Are you able to be scheduled a head of time for the treatments.,
Any info will be helpful. Thanks -
AnonymousApril 16, 2008 at 9:48 pm
To add top what Sue stated, it will also depend on what province you move to. Health care is not necessarily universal across the country as some folks think. Different provinces will cover different treatments, wait times will vary, some provinces allow private services and other provinces won’t so you would really need to do your research before you make the move! There are programs that cover medication costs but they are not available in all provinces. I have to pay full price for my meds. You also need to remember that although we have “free” health care in many areas, our tax base is quite a bit higher than alot of states.
Certainly something for you to think about but please do research first as I would hate to see you move and then not get your needs met!
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Janet,
Please excuse my ignorance, where is Southern SK?
As you can see geography is not my strong point!!!
Dawn -
AnonymousApril 16, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Hi Dawn! I am not great with geography either so glad you asked. I live in the south east corner of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. I haven’t posted the name of the town I am from because I wasn’t sure how secure this site would be. If you are asking where Saskatchewan is in relation to other provinces, we are above North Dakota/Montana and are bordered by Alberta and Manitoba.
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AnonymousApril 17, 2008 at 2:14 am
[QUOTE=blskat1]My husband is a Canadian Citzen. He has been thinking of returning to Canada due to the expense of CIDP treatment in the states. Even being on Medicare and a supplement some meds, like CellCept are not covered.
Does the Canadian insurance cover IVIG, Plasmaphresis, CellCept, Prednisone, Imuran, and all of the other tests and procedures that go with this disease.
Are you able to be scheduled a head of time for the treatments.,
Any info will be helpful. Thanks[/QUOTE]Our system can be rather complicated Beth. Each Province has its own medical insurance plan. People on income assistance (welfare) here in British Columbia get their Provincial medical insurance paid for, but qualifying for income assistance is another hurdle in itself. If you are not on income assistance, then you pay monthly fees for the insurance. This insurance covers hospitalization, doctors visits, lab fees, ambulance etc. It does not cover things like Prednisone and Cellcept. However, in my Province we have a program called Pharmacare which does pay for those drugs fully or in part based on what your annual income is. IVIG is in a category of its own as it is a blood product which throughout Canada is supplied to hospitals by the Canadian Blood Services–in theory without charge to its citizens (but we pay through our tax dollars). So IVIG would be covered if prescribed by your doctor, but to receive it you would have to have the Provincial Insurance so that you could use the hospital facilities to have it administered. And if you need to be on income assistance, then there are differing policies from Province to Province about who qualifies to be on income assistance. It would be best to thoroughly research the medical insurance plan of the Province that you would relocate to, and also research that Province’s pharmacare program and income assistance programs. I think there is even a wait time to get on income assistance in BC. I think to be able to carry on with your treatment during relocation, you would have to come here with medical coverage in the USA that would stay in effect for 3-6 months while you qualify here. Good luck. Almost sounds unworkable doesn’t it?? I think I have heard newcomers saying things like “I hope I don’t get sick in the next 3 months!”–since they have no coverage for the wait period. You sure have made me think about our complex system which I take for granted.
Laurel -
AnonymousApril 17, 2008 at 11:45 am
You could get some information for Ontario at the following website: [url]http://www.health.gov.on.ca/index.html[/url]
(Ontario is the 415,598 sq.mile parcel of land just north of Buffalo) 🙂
As to what is covered and what is not covered…I am sorry but I don’t know. All I can say is that Rituxan is not covered for treatment of IgM MGUS. (Nor is it covered by private insurance unless there is an underlying illness like NHL)
We are able to deduct the cost of medication from our income when calculating income taxes, which helps.
Regards
Andrew
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