ann m

This is not a unique situation but as usual, I'll call on you lovely bunch for any personal or practical experience you can reveal!

Family is covered under Alberta Health Care. Daughter is Type 1 diabetic, and is going to School in Vancouver for a 16-month full-time programme. And I mean full-time, not a regular academic year with summer breaks - which is why we have a few questions rumbling around in our heads, because she won't be back in Alberta for any length of time during that study period.

From the AHS website, I understand she can maintain her Alberta provincial cover while she is a student. However, could she register with a BC GP (if she could find one)? Or is walk-in going to be the way to go? There is no 'campus' as such, so no access to a student clinic through the School as far as I am aware.

Secondly, is there any likelihood of access of a specialist (endocrinologist) if you are technically from out of Province? In normal student circumstances we wouldn't be too bothered and she would catch up with her own Doctor during the summer, but the ability for to see her own Doctor in the couple of days she might come back to Alberta is probably slim. And 16 months is probably too long to go between appointments, as there still seems to be a lot of tweaking going on with dosages.

Finally, (!! sorry), can you just show up at a BC Pharmacy with an Alberta prescription? She will be chatting to our local Shoppers Drug Mart at her next drug pick up, and we're also kinda assuming they could just fax over her prescription - anyone know how that bit might work? And she'll need renewed prescriptions at some point during all that time. Luckily, we have health care insurance which can pick up the costs but just wondering about the practicalities and direct billing by the pharmacist, etc.

Thank you for any of your own insights or experiences.

scrubbedexpat091

She may find it difficult to find a doctor accepting patients, my doctor isn't accepting patients but she is a really good doctor and part of the practice she is in is a walk in and she does walk in hours, waits are usually not super long, Its in East Vancouver, I can PM the clinic name if you want it, don't want to post it here since I go there as a patient and don't want the world to know where I go to see a doctor.

There is also a decent walk in on Seymour St and Nelson, I think its called Coast something, I used to go there, only downside is they tend to have long waits, sometimes 2-3 hours.

One way to get a GP here is to find a walk in where the doctors also have a practice and see the same doctor each time, over time the doctor may decide to accept one as a patient.

scilly

Medical coverage is provincial, and every province's cover and charges will differ .......... bottom line is that her AB scheme MIGHT not cover any costs, only partial costs, or pay up front and claim back.

We've met all 3 options.

The general advice is to buy travel medical insurance when travelling outside your own province ....... we risk not buying it because we have Extended Health Insurance that would cover any extra charges. But I've found in the past that medical expenses outside BC have been pay up front and claim back later.

You'd better contact both Alberta Medicare and BC Medicare to see what the regulations are ..... she basically might be considered a permanent resident of BC for 16 months, and it may be that a) AB coverage will not extend to that or b) BC requirement will be for her to join and pay for BC Medical.

It's possible that her only option will be to use the walk-in clinic, which is not always as good as the one that Jsmth has found. We had an out-of-province guest a couple of years ago who had a medical problem (turned out to be pneumonia), the family practice clinic that we go to is not a walk-in and would not see him. We had to find a walk-in clinic ........ the one out at UBC did not have a long wait, but then it was during the summer. He had to pay up front

ann m

Siouxie

Won't the Student Health Plan cover some of the costs?

This page might be of help - it has info about Alberta Health Care whilst a student in BC and there appears an option to join the student health plan (I'm sure whichever Uni she is going to should have similar details).

Additional Information for Out of Province Students – PAGSA

https://students.ubc.ca/health-welln...alth-insurance
Health and Dental Plan
Regarding the prescription, I found this that might be able to put your mind at rest:
Out-of-Province Issues | College of Pharmacists of British Columbia

ann m