Lifestyle and Leisure
Healthy landings
Hanna Lindon takes a healthy look at health insurance, registration and finding a doctor in Canada
The first three months
If you're emigrating to Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Nova Scotia, then you should be eligible for Medicare coverage on arrival; in the other provinces this is not always the case.
"Here in Alberta new residents are covered from the day that they arrive, but most other provinces do not provide healthcare to new residents for the first 90 days," says Ian Wisdom of Canilink Relocation, who himself emigrated from the UK in 1997. "As such, it is important that immigrants arrange their own health insurance plan before arriving in Canada."
Before taking out a separate healthcare plan, make sure you to check to see whether you travel insurance covers you during your first months in Canada. Some specialist insurers will cover emigration as well as travel.
Registration
In addition to arranging temporary healthcare coverage, migrants will need to register with the appropriate local authority before being eligible for Medicare. In most provinces, you will then be sent a card that you must show to your doctor or hospital when requiring treatment – this demonstrates that you have paid the Canadian equivalent of national insurance. "We pay CDN$108 per month as a family of four for Medicare, and this is basically instead of National Insurance," says Mette Hobden, a British migrant living in BC with her husband Darren and their two children. "You are given a card with a designated number on it, and you present it at any hospital visits or when you go for blood test, etcetera."
In Nova Scotia, British migrant and nurse Lynn Cragg was able to obtain a health card – called an 'MSI card' in the province – almost as soon as she set foot in the country. However, she believes that the medical registration system has its downsides. "It feels like a cumbersome system, as one has to present a health card whenever you access any form of healthcare," she explains. "We are so used to just walking into the doctors, hospital or whatever, giving our name and address and getting treatment," says Lynn, reflecting on her experiences of British healthcare.
Finding a doctor
While it isn't possible in Canada simply to walk into your local surgery and demand treatment, once registered Lynn and her family found the process of locating a family doctor reasonably straightforward. "We live about an hour from the city, and we had no problem signing up for the local family doctor," she says. "I also know people living in Halifax who have been able to get a family doctor quite quickly too. We were expected to make an appointment to meet the doctor to make sure that we were happy with each other before we actually needed to attend care."
The proof of identity and documents you are required to show to sign up with a local doctor will differ according to your relocation destination, as will the ease of finding a nearby surgery with patient vacancies. In BC, Mette and Darren found both aspects of registration more straightforward than they had expected. "When we arrived, a new doctor had started at our local surgery and was looking for new patients, so we were lucky enough to sign up with a doctor straightaway," Mette recalls. "To sign up, we just showed proof of address and our Medicare card number, and Darren and I took a medical test and gave a medical history update. We did ask if they wanted our medical records sent over from the UK, but they were fine without them. "It can be difficult in some areas to find a doctor, but our area seems to have a sufficient number of vacancies," she adds.
If you're newly arrived in Canada and finding it tricky to locate a local doctor, then don't despair. According to Ian, there are other options open to migrants. "Sometimes, people may find that their local doctor is full and therefore not taking new patients," he says. "Where this is the case, the migrant may have to go and register with a doctor in the next available community or simply use the many walk-in clinics."
Walk-in clinics are plentiful in large cities, and offer freely available healthcare to registered Canadian residents.
Ian can be contacted for further information at canilink@shawbiz.ca 001 403 995 7050 or through the web site Canilink
Mette and Darren Hobden can be contacted via their website Emigreat
Back to Emigrate magazine home