Canada Jane

As we are now resident in Ontario and now have our OHIP cards but wonder if it is worth having some sort of top up plan.

People keep mentioning Blue Cross etc to us, but not sure if we really need it. Also as we are both self employed we would have to pay the premiums ourselves, although I believe we can claim some back through the business, but do we really need it?

In the UK we both visited the dentist for checkups every 6 months and I always have a technician clean my teeth at the same time, are there typical costs for these in the Quinte area of Ontario? I understand that these are not covered under OHIP.

We both only ever go to the Dr if needed - the last time was when my husband broke is arm - if this had happened here would everything have been covered i.e. ambulance, treatment, plastering, physiotherapy etc?

Also, is contraceptive stuff covered?

We have yet to find a Dr or dentist, although have been told we will be lucky to get a Dr. This is a slight concern as far as women's things are concerned - where do you go for this type of treatment if you don't have a Dr?

Any advice welcome
Jane

Interested

Hi CanadaJane,

If you don't have jobs with health insurance it might be worth joining BlueCross or something similiar.

Whilst visits to the doctor are covered, any medication, including contraceptives are not and they can be quite costly!

A visit to the hospital would be covered but I'm not sure about physiotherapy.

A visit to the dentist and eye tests are not covered by OHIP so you'll have to pay for them out of your own pocket unless you have a health insurance plan. I can't remember what the actual cost of visiting the dentist is because it's paid for 90% by my insurance plan through work so I hardly pay anything.

Are you planning on getting jobs? Most companies offer salaried employees health insurance.

Int.

Mrs Madmac

We are hoping to get work soon so that our "benefits" will take up the shortfall when our private cover expires. If not I would go for Blue Cross idea or something from Manulife. (If your situation changes and you both are not self employed the one with benefits can add their spouse on to it.)

Be aware "ambulance" costs are not part of Medicare....... I only found this out by mistake! So before you collapse remember to tell someone to call you a taxi! L.O.L.

Seriously though...... phone around and you will find a doctor..... it will just take time. As for dental fees..... I was told $80 was normal for a scale and polish. (Like you we never go to the doctors and only visit the dentist for a polish.)

dbd33

I've never had any sort of coverage on top of OHIP. I can't imagine it would pay for any sort of routine expense and so fail to see the point.

Canada Jane

Thanks for the replies - looks like we won't need to bother then.

One less expense

thanks
Jane

Tiaribbon

Jane, if you are looking for a Doctor then try the Doctors surgery which is located in a shared building with the YMCA building in Brighton. They are taking on new patients and we were lucky enough to become registered with them . You would have to go in and complete the forms and then they get back to you.

Very easy to find - take the 401 westbound, come off at Junction 509 and head south on CR30 to the lights in the middle of Brighton. Turn right at the lights and continue to the outskirts of the town; the building is new and large and is on your right hand side.

Hope this helps .

iaink

Dunno about the pros and cons of additional insurance. If you get sick and need some serious prescription drugs it would be worth it, but in an uninsured period in my time here the doctor would give us drug company samples of simple antibiotics etc to save the considerable expense of meds. OK for occasional strep throat, not good for Cancer or long term heart meds I imagine. I would be extremely uneasy living here without some basic coverage for that stuff, cos once youve got a disease, its preexisting and you will be SOL finding any reasonable medical coverage after the fact.

Stuff like ambulances are covered to some extent by OHIP "when medically necessary", although there is a $45 Copayment. Whether a broken arm would make ambulisation medically necessary Im not sure...I suspect not. Outside of Ontario, you would have to pay serious coin, for example holidaying in a different province. OHIP covers certain things out of province through reciprocal agreements between provinces, but ambulances are not one of them. In the US OHIP will cover only up to what it would pay in canada, but of course medical expenses are far higher south of the border.

Contraception will be at your own cost for pills, but an IUD I think would be free as its done in hospital. As a general rule anything done while in hospital is covered by OHIP (although private / semiprivate rooms will cost you, OHIP only covers ward treatment) Physio I think is extra expense outside of hospital treatment. Drugs in hospital are covered, but take home prescriptions are at your own expense.

Dental you can cope with on an as required basis I suppose, insurance doesnt fully cover expensive things like wisdom teeth and braces anyway. Dr Ter Haar (look in the book) does us for $106 for the check up and cleaning. This is pretty much the "book" cost that insurance will cover up to, and from what Ive read here, many dentist will charge substantially more.

Not only is he reasonable value, hes a very gentle dentist and has done some amazing work on my teeth. I have no qualms at all to recomend him. Unfortunately I dont know if hes taking patients at the mo, but most dentist seem to.

We recently got lucky with getting a new GP. The Quinte West Medical Center has had some luck with recruiting, and has (had?) doctors looking to take on patients, so our days of going to the urgent care clinic or emergency are over. Our new doctor has recently returned to Canada to practice in Trenton after teaching overseas for a few years. Less of a drive than Brighton for you if you can get in. The Quinte West township offices (the nice new building with the library in downtown Trenton) have application forms, but they might mail them out too if you call the clinic?

There is a waiting list closer to home in Belleville at the newish family health center you can sign up for too I believe. THey have not had the sucess of trenton in recruiting AFAIK. Otherwise go through the phone book and see if you get lucky, but dont hold your breath around here. We used to have a different doctor in Trenton, but well, we had some concerns and chose to go to the clinics rather than through him anymore! Finding a doctor might just be half the battle. In the mean time access to primary health care will be through the urgen care clinics and the hospital, although the health line will offer advice and guidelines too.

My wife was continuing to see the OB/Gyn who delivered O/S#2 for PAPs, as we had no GP coverage at that time. If you have no GP, I think PAPs etc can be arranged either through the Urgent Care clinics, or perhaps through the Local Heath Unit (Hastings County HU, in Belleville), who also do immunisations, flu shots etc for sure. Failing that call the 1-800 ontario teleheath number and see what they suggest.

Anyway, I dont intend to post or visit here with any great frequency in future, with any sort of luck this might be the last of 7000+ posts. (God I hope so.) If there is anything I might be able to help with in future, please drop me a line.