Before Medicare starts

That is a very useful link, thank-you.
I note that prescription/medication costs do not appear to be covered by the MSP in BC and wonder whether anyone can give advice on how older people who have become PR's under a family sponsor scheme like PGP - meet such costs?

If the person in question would be working then it can often be covered by private healthcare from their employer. If not, then they'd just need to make sure they have the funds to cover it (and other things that also aren't covered i.e. ambulances or dental care) or get supplementary insurance themselves.

HTH.

That is helpful - as indeed is any advice at this stage. I've also just discovered Fair Pharmacare which indicates a family of two would have a deductible of $2000 after which Pharmacare pay 70% of prescription costs up to $2800 or thereabouts. Not sure what happen after that though!

If you mean parents/grandparents who were sponsored for PR then they would be expected to have some income from pensions or savings to cover the costs or if they had no income then the sponsors are required to pay.. sponsors of parents are responsible for all costs for a period of 20 years.

How long am I financially responsible for the family member or relative I sponsor?

Note that Fair Pharmacare is based on your tax return for 2 years previous to the current year ............ so coverage for 2019 is based on the 2017 tax return. They use the Net Income from both spouses to calculate the level of coverage. The level of coverage decreases as the net income increases.

Pharmacare covers 100% of the prescription costs after the $2,800 limit is reached ................ that being for the upper net income level of around $79,000

If I read that correctly, then a newcomer would not be able to claim Fair Pharmacare until 2 years after filing their first full tax return.

Note there are lots of restrictions in what the programme will cover ............. including requiring that you have the lowest cost drug if there are differences between different manufacturers. That may force you to have a generic drug even if the generic drug is not as effective for you.

Do you not also have to get short-term insurance for yourself and the other 2 to cover the period between your arrival and when the provincial medicare kicks in?

There's nothing compulsory about obtaining insurance, it's optional and depends on your attitude to risk.

There is no requirement to insure yourself or family when you come to Canada as PR (or Citizen) and are waiting for Provincial Healthcare to start.... some Provinces don't have any wait period for healthcare.
It would only be a requirement if a parent/grandparent is here under a SuperVisa - where they wouldn't qualify for Provincial healthcare anyway.,, or if here on an IEC.

Ah ........... OK. I just thought I'd read about people taking out health insurance to cover the period between arriving and when provincial health insurance kicked in, which I think is 3 months in BC and some other provinces.

If it isn't a requirement, is it a recommendation or suggestion that it might be a good idea?

So say for example there is a 90 day waiting period for Provincial Healthcare and something happens in that 3 months when not covered then you would be paying out of pocket and if something serious then the costs would be thousands. What is your degree of risk of nothing happening within that period if not covered?

If an individual is sponsored by a family member, the sponsor could be on the hook for the cost if there is no insurance, or if the insurance is invalidated, undeclared pre existing conditions for example. Costs could be hundreds of thousands if the condition, or accident were serious. This was an enlightening read Canadian Hospital Rates Do not know how accurate or up to date it is.
When traveling, I carry $10m coverage, not worth taking a chance, you never know what or when something will happen.