scilly

Siouxie is quite right.

The question is whether you have the money to pay for the drug. I think few medical plans would pay the full amount.

I'm not sure how common it is for such benefits to be part of employment as we were lucky, but private medical plans are available. You have to pay a monthly premium, and many of those have a lifetime limit.

We are retired and have an Extended Health Plan that has a yearly deduction of $1000 before it pays out, plus a $200,000 lifetime limit ................ that wouldn't go far with a medication costing as much as Xolair.

Just so you know ............. the premiums for that plan cost us just over $175 per month, or over $2100 per year.

Revin Kevin

It's little nuggets like this you tend to miss when concidering a move to Canada. I thought I was well informed but knew nothing about paying for the cost of drugs. Its something you just don't think about coming from the UK.

scrubbedexpat091

I came from the US and assumed universal healthcare meant everything was covered, but boy was I ever wrong.

Jerseygirl

In fairness...Canadian healthcare covers most things, for most people.

Siouxie

The first thing to ascertain is if the OP's wife is already a PR / Citizen or whether they are Excessive Demand Exempt. If not they will have to show proof of sufficient savings / income to fund the excess costs involved (without any costs being born by Provincial Health Care). Otherwise the OP's wife is unlikely to be approved for Permanent Residence in Canada, due to Excessive Demand.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...-services.html

Atlantic Xpat

The OP seems to be ignoring this point in favour of focusing on whether BC Healthcare covers this particular drug. So it's worth restating.

scilly

From the OP's first 2 posts, I've been assuming that they are NOT either Canadian citizens or PRs .......

and in response to FL's question as to whether they would qualify to live in Canada for a few years ...........

scilly

In BC, if you earn more than a minimum amount, then you will pay at least part of every drug cost (+ a the pharmacist's charge), with the amount gradually decreasing until you pay the full cost. This is governed by the Pharmacare program.

You will also pay for an ambulance, opiticans, dentists ... unless you have Extended Health Benefit programme.

You will NOT pay for visits to a Family Doctor, for a specialist as long as you have been referred to him/her by the Family Doctor, for an operation in hospital or day surgery, nor for any drugs prescribed or given to you in hospital (even if they are ones that you would normally be taking in "normal" life).

You will be asked to pay an amount for the bed and room if you have to stay in hospital, the amount varying as to whether you want a private room, a semi-private (2 bed) or a larger.

This is what happens in BC ..........all will vary from province to province

If you earn less than the minimum stated by the government or are on disability allowance, many if not most/all of your costs will be covered by Pharmacare. This also applies to seniors on pension ......... if they are receiving only the minimum OAS (Old Age pension) or CPP (Canada Pension Plan), costs are covered. NOTE:- OAS and CPP are paid from your salary, either wholly by you, or in some form of shared division between you and your employer.

If a senior has other retirement income, then Pharmacare determines how much of a deduction you will have to pay before being covered . Until that deduction limit is reached, you pay the whole cost ......... except you get a discounted opticians appointment once a year.

I would point out that OH does have an additional private pension, and we have neve reached the deduction limit in 17 years, even though my prescription drugs cost around $2000 a year.

You also have to count in the cost of Dental treatment, for opticians, physio etc ......... none of those are covered.

scrubbedexpat091

If your on provincial disability in BC many medications are indeed covered, but many are also not covered, just depends what your prescribed but there can still be a fair amount of out of pocket expenses even when receiving PWD extended benefits.