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Health insurance Canada

FHunt1984

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi!

I am planning to move to Canada ( west coast) with my boyfriend on a working holiday visa for 2 years.

- Has anyone done this before?
- What company have you gone for?
- How much is it and what is the procedure for getting medication?
- If I move to canada will it make things difficult if I move home? I read that when someone returned they had to go private until they could re-join the NHS.

Any other advice or considerations please let me know.

Thank you!
 
I have no idea, but let me tag @Melgar for you, she might know more about it.
 
FHunt1984 said:
- If I move to canada will it make things difficult if I move home? I read that when someone returned they had to go private until they could re-join the NHS.
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I have no idea about Canadian healthcare but I know about moving away from the UK and back.
NHS is available based on residency. If you live in the UK, you are entitled to NHS care.
I have lived overseas for a few years and when I returned, I just registered at my local GP surgery and, even though I had lived in Australia and Germany, I was treated as if I had moved from Kent to Sussex for example. There was no need for me to go private.
 
Return to the UK is straightforward. As long as you are "lawfully and permanently" in the country you are entitled to register with a GP and full use of the NHS. "Permanently" in this case generally means staying/having stayed/planning to stay around six months or so - it's not formally defined and had never been tested by a court at least up to a few years ago.

However the decision to register a patient is ultimately up to the GP practice approached, and it is possible it may not be taking on patients for other reasons.
 
Our flight has been delayed 2 hours so here I am.
@FHunt1984 . I live in British Columbia. I am a Duel National holding both Canadian and UK passports. If you are staying in Canada for two years and able to work then you should be able to use our healthcare system. In BC is is called the Medical Service Plan or MSP. There are restrictions. For the first 3 months you will have to provide your own health Insurance. You will have to do this in the UK. Private health insurance companies here usually piggy back on provincial health care plans. It is the same for Canadians. If a Canadian moves province, they use their former province to cover them for the first three months in their new province, but in your case you don't have one so you must use the UK and get travel insurance to cover you. .

How much is it and what is the procedure for getting medication? You go along to any pharmacy and obtain your drugs. Depending on your private policy you may have to pay upfront for the drugs and then send your receipts to your private insurance. Try and get a 3 month supply of you your prescription before you fly. If you require a new prescription in that 3 month waiting period you will have to go to a Dr here who will charge you about $150 for the consultation.

In my experience when coming back to the UK you will have to wait 6 months to re-establish residency before you can enter the NHS system. I believe you are covered for any emergency life threatening situation with that 6 months.
 
The West Coast usually implies British Columbia. So here is their web page. You can always email them.

Medical Services Plan

Medical Services Plan of B.C.
www2.gov.bc.ca
 
Melgar said:
In my experience when coming back to the UK you will have to wait 6 months to re-establish residency before you can enter the NHS system. I believe you are covered for any emergency life threatening situation with that 6 months.
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This was not my experience. After living overseas for more than 4 years, I had full access to the NHS as soon as I had a permanent address.
 
Here’s the Gov UK site on all the info about returning to the UK after living abroad

Returning to the UK

This page provides information about some of the actions you may need to take if you are a UK national living abroad and you are returning to the UK permanently.
www.gov.uk

This is what they say about access to the NHS

Access to NHS services


To get free NHS healthcare you will need to prove that you’ve returned to the UK to live and you meet the ordinary residence test.

For more information on access to healthcare in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, visit the websites for health services in each country:
 
Thanks @lovinglife. I returned briefly to the UK in 2018 for 9 months. I was told you needed to spend 6 months in the UK to re-establish residency. It has obviously been updated, which is a good thing.
 
Melgar said:
Thanks @lovinglife. I returned briefly to the UK in 2018 for 9 months. I was told you needed to spend 6 months in the UK to re-establish residency. It has obviously been updated, which is a good thing.
Click to expand...
I wonder if it’s because you’ve got dual nationality? Or it could have changed since Brexit? Who knows lol
 
No, you don't have to wait. As long as you're a) in the country lawfully and b) planning to stay six months or more you are able to register from day one. It's not been updated - this is how it's always been. It is possible that you've had the info from someone who didn't quite understand how the "six months" rule works.
 
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