Want to move to America/Canada at some point!

Seriously_Sax1989

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Hi everyone, my boyfriend and I have been doing a lot of thinking and have decided that at some point we would like to leave England and move to either America or Canada! Now the thing is I don't have the faintest idea about how to manage all my prescriptions etc as obviously there is no NHS!

Has anyone relocated to either of these from England and how did you sort everything out?

Thanks :) x
 

Ali H

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I would join an expat forum and ask the questions, likely to get a broader spread of people who have done such a thing with medical issues. Some countries are dead strict, if you are likely to cost them money they won't issue a visa, Australia and NZ in particular. I think your supplies would be extremely expensive over there self funding.

Ali
 

AndBreathe

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Canada has a system which is a variation on our NHS. USA is completely different.
 
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Hi, there is a member on the forum who is type 1 and lives in Canada.

Best wishes RRB
 

noblehead

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I would contact the American/Canada Diabetes Associations and ask for their advice on the availability of prescriptions and such, either them or Diabetes UK might be able to help too.

Good luck and hope all works out well.
 

Brunneria

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@Nyxks is from Canada, I think.
She has previously mentioned how expensive her type 1 supplies are, and I was shocked.
We rarely appreciate the NHS until faced with the situation in other countries.
 
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Ali H

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9 years ago I had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. I belonged to a forum and it was also quite densely populated with ladies from America. Some of them were in a terrible situation, some had changed jobs and were waiting for new insurance to kick in, others had lost their jobs and had no cover etc. They were not allowed certain treatments and all but had to wait until they ruptured before qualifying for their last resort, free cover. I really felt for them, I couldn't have treatment to resolve it such as methotrexate as it was discovered too late but these poor women were going weeks and weeks just waiting for the inevitable and having to hope they didn't bleed to death. It would make me extremely wary of where I moved to in the world I can tell you.
 

AlexMBrennan

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Healthcare in the U.S. can be extremely expensive, and I'd be concerned about being able to find insurance that will cover your diabetes since it's a preexisting condition (a bit like trying to get insurance when your house is already on fire); make absolutely sure that you are covered before you go.
 

Seriously_Sax1989

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Thanks guys. I have to check it all out and go over with a fine tooth comb like you've all suggested! I just don't want to regret not doing it when I'm older just because of this pain in the bum disease!
I think we are extremely lucky to have the NHS even though sometimes they may appear to fail us but at least we have them!
 

Nyxks

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@Nyxks is from Canada, I think.
She has previously mentioned how expensive her type 1 supplies are, and I was shocked.
We rarely appreciate the NHS until faced with the situation in other countries.

Yes, I'm in Canada in Ontario ... each province has its own deal for those who have diabetes, T2 is treated differently then T1 under the canadian government i can get assistance with a pump as a T1 but the cost of the insulin for the pump is more then the check the government would cut for me every 6 months.

We can get insurance but if you have a prexisting condition its next to impossible to get it covered so one could get insurance but it wouldn't cover anything to do with diabetes if you already have it at time you get the insurance, less it is though a company or group type deal. Premiums can be really costly depending on the plans you are able to get on to, my dad pays about 260 a month for his health insurance which was great when mom was alive as with the medication she needed to live costing 1k plus a month it covered 90% of the cost so worked for him greatly but without her need for the drugs its pricy to maintain out of the pension he gets. If i get enough hours accumulated for the company I do seasonal employment for my medical coverage is 99% but unless I'm able to get the hours in to meet the minimal coverage I'm SOL for coverage.

In hospital care here in Ontario is covered 100% under OHIP so almost anything dun in hospital doesn't cost anything, but getting to the hospital via ambulance is 40 bucks (which is cheap compared to the 800 it is if you are a visitor to the province). I had a hysterectomy 8 years ago and it was 100% covered however under OHIP i only have what is called ward coverage, which means 4 to 6 people to a single room (means not great for recovering from illness or surgery) thus my folks forked out 250 a night for me to be able to have a semi private room, they would have paid for private but there was no private rooms in that ward so wasn't possible.

However, Dental care isn't covered less its emergency or other types within the hospital system itself - so a few months ago I had to have a root cane dun it cost me just over 2,000 for it out of pocket, plus 100 for the exam, and another 500 for the filling that was dun, total bill for one tooth including the reconstruction of said tooth two months later just over 3k (would have been cheaper to have pulled it n put in a false tooth - we're thinking). Now this is working with a dentist that does a form of geared to income deal but still OUCH, if it was though one of the student schools that is for training of dentists then it would be cheaper but the waiting line to get into such a program is two to four years and then having to wait for hours for an appointment once you get in to some just isn't worth the cost savings, to degrees.

Seeing the eye doctor if you have diabetes is a yearly deal that is covered 100% under ohip, but other wise you only see a eye doc every 2 to 4 years as needed that's covered under ohip. Physicals are dun every 2 to 3 years. Depends on your endro (diabetic doc) you see them every 3 to 4 months. on average depending on your control the better control the further between visits you go, some people are lucky enough only to need to see the endro every 6 months with their GP being the one who does most of their care because their diabetic doc doesn't need to see them very often.

http://www.canadian-healthcare.org actually gives a good overview of our health care system in general (at least the first few pages from reading though it are good, can't say for the entire site).

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-eng.php is the official Health Canada site that has everything to do with out heath care system over all and province by province including our territories.
 
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Mike d

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I can tell you one thing you're gonna hate .... the paperwork :)

Shove that to one side though and push thru. Ali H got it dead right at the beginning. Expat forums is fanbloodytastic.

I'm going to the U.S. and type 2 is NOT a problem according to my consulate doctor. On Ali's note I'm absolutely ashamed to think that my country could treat someone thinking of coming here to OZ with the same condition is somehow considered a "no go zone".

.... and if you think I'd back this country no matter what, then I don't ..... disgraceful conduct :(
 

Seriously_Sax1989

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Thank you for all the info! Didn't realise having type 1 was so limiting if wanting to move to another country! Like I've said before tho it's something that I really want to do, even if it's not a permanent move. It's just going to take military planning I think to find the best way to go about it.... Why can't things be straight forward :(
 

Brunneria

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Thank you for all the info! Didn't realise having type 1 was so limiting if wanting to move to another country! Like I've said before tho it's something that I really want to do, even if it's not a permanent move. It's just going to take military planning I think to find the best way to go about it.... Why can't things be straight forward :(

The son of a friend of mine is type 1, 21 yrs old and worked for 3 months in Camp America (summer school) this year.

He took EVERYTHING he needed with him in a cool bag of some kind.
It was a pain to organise (insurance, supplies, transporting it, etc.) but he had a blast. Loved it, and wants to go back ASAP.

So long trips may be the way to go.
 
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Seriously_Sax1989

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Funny, I've been thinking about that today! Can imagine the organising to be a pain like you say as I went to Greece for a week back in May and that took a bit of planning! Didn't bother with insurances that time though!
 

Nyxks

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Immigration is a B and a half, took me 2 years to get my mate here - and only reason we didn't do it the other way around (hir have me move to the US) was because Canada had lifted the immigration ban two year prior for those with Epilepsy being allowed to immigrate into the country (before that it was on a per individual basis depending on how controlled they where = annoying on oh so many levels).