jerryhung

Hi

Applied for SV for the Oldies - anyone have any experience/recommendations for SV insurance?

dave_j

My daughter applied to sponsor my wife and myself. A couple of years later we applied to visit on the supervisa scheme to bridge the gap.

As visitors, which we remained as supervisa residents, we expected no health benefits and it's a requirement of application that we bought supervisa insurance, I seem to remember each cost about $1500 for reasonably healthy late 60 year olds but this was a few years ago.

That part is fairly straightforward, some implications are slightly different and fortunately we never had to test them as PR arrived before the first 2 year supervisa period expired.

There was always the fear that had one of us became ill and needed to claim under the purchased health insurance one of three things might have happened.

The first is that under the insurance we bought, the company reserved the right to repatriate the ill individual, presumably to restrict expense should the illness prove very expensive. This would have been a problem for us since we had rented a house before we had left so reptriation would have been problematic having had no permanent UK base.

The second might arise following a claim where the company would have refused to renew it and this would have exposed us to perhaps high cost and or revocation of the supervisa since it's a condition that required insurance is purchased.

The third could have been that neither of the above would have happened and any health issue would have been funded in total without consequence.

However, once PR has been awarded and following the 3 month initial period, in BC we applied for the basic medical services insurance sheme and for $150/month for the two of us we get basic services on demand but that excludes optical, dental and prescription services but there are tax rebates on some of this. I've no idea what happens in other provinces.

But if you want to visit under the supervisa scheme then you sign up to having to buy insurance from a canadian company and you hope that they will act ethically. We looked on the purchse as a condition of supervisa acquisition and although we had a GP here we paid for each visit ourselves and never made a claim.

jerryhung

Thanks a tonne, Dave! very helpful and exactly what I was after.

So in BC - you are covered for doctors and medical emergencies etc? Are there any prescription drugs covered at all? I'm just wondering how expensive/feasible it is if a parent gets PR as it says the sponsor has to support applicant for 20 years.

Congrats on your successful arrival here

scilly

We moved here over 49 years ago and have been citizens for about 43 years, so I cannot answer your question about support for senior immigrants.

I can tell you that ,In BC, the MSP covers family practitioners, referrals by FPs to specialists, some or all of prescription costs may be covered by Pharmacare after a certain deductible depending on the applicant's annual income, and all costs of hospital stay EXCEPT for part of the cost of the bed

The charge for hospital bed depends on whether you take a private room, a room for 2 or a room for 4 or more.

Outside the hospital, we have to pay ALL our prescription costs, except if a) low income and get coverage under MSP; b) qualify under Pharmacare; c) have Extended Health Insurance. However, both b and c involve a deductions clause ...... and Pharmacare can be particularly onerous.

Some seniors find the actual cost of the drug is covered but the pharmacist's dispensing fee is not.

MSP does NOT cover dental treatment, or the cost of glasses, it does pay about $40 towards the cost of an annual eye examination for seniors.

It is possible to get insurance to cover the cost of dental treatment, mostly with a deduction of anywhere from 20-80% depending on the plan and the treatment. Some medical plans cover the costs of eye glasses, depending on the type of plan.

However, the costs of Extended coverage can be high .............. we currently pay just under $370 per month for medical coverage, broken down as follows .....

MSP $136
Extended Health $140
Dental $85

These costs change every January as the insurance company adjusts its costs ...... and the change is usually upwards, of course!

The Pharmacare deduction before we could claim coverage from them was last estimated to be $5,000 a year, and we have $1,000 deductible before being able to claim medical expenses on Extended Health.


Have you also checked to see if existing medical problems will be covered after arrival here? Some are not ...... years ago we were told that my m-i-l's congestive heart failure would NEVER be covered and we would always be responsible for those costs including the full costs of hospital stay no matter how high. The estimate then was $20,000/year if she stayed +/- stable.

It would have been covered had it developed more than 3 months after her arrival her.

Diabetes seems to be another one that is not or only barely covered here.



Your parents might well also have to pass a medical before acceptance for medical insurance coverage.

Also don't forget that you would also be responsible for obtaining medical insurance if they ever venture into the states ........... and the costs down there are horrific.

dave_j

Well put Scilly, a concise appreciation. We were given medicals in the UK before awarded the supervisa, although we did think it was a little lightweight.

While your 'oldies' are here the supervisa insurance will provide coverage, but as I said before, we always treated it as an expense and would only have used it in extremis but others may have used it and found it very useful, perhaps we were too careful.

jerryhung

Thanks Dave and Scilly - so just to clarify: the oldies DO get BC MSP even though we have to "Cover" them for 20 years?

scilly

I can't tell you that .......... other than any immigrant is eligible for MSP after 3 months.

I only know that we were told a number of years ago that pre-existing conditions would NOT be covered.

Sponsors of immigrant parents do seem to be responsible for any and all costs incurred that they do not or cannot cover themselves.

Siouxie

Under the Supervisa they would have to cover all and any costs I believe, as they would be classed as visitors.

Once they have PR, they would be entitled to BC MSP. As I have read it, you would be required to cover costs not covered under BC MSP, should they not have the funds to do so.



https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h...e-you-eligible
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ndparents.html

R I C H

These are key reasons my mother in law (who's in her early 80's) won't move here under the super visa program - she takes a range of regular medication which just makes the cost of living here excessively expensive. Couple that with the lottery process for sponsored parent PR and no guarantee of being able to settle here means we're returning to the UK to take care of her as she grows older.

scilly

This was the problem with my m-i-l ......... her son and daughter here, both with families, and the cost of supporting her was far too expensive for the combined salaries of both to support her. She did have a good pension, and money in the bank, but not enough to support herself here for more than 2 years maximum

Unfortunately, neither family was able to make the move back to the UK, and in fact her son-i-l died about 1 year later which made that family's life much more difficult even to support themselves.

M-i-l stayed in the UK, with an ample income, with some of her friends close by.


That is the other thing to consider when looking at bringing aged parents here .............. how are they going to occupy themselves? It gets harder to make new friends as you get older, and they are moving into a brand new environment.

Will they be able to adjust to the new life?

Will they be able to make new friends at age 75 / 80 /90?

Or will you end up being responsible not only for the economic support but also the physical and emotional support as well?

I know that my m-i-l would not have made new friends, and that she would have just waited for her son or daughter to take her places, and that would apply whether she lived with them, in an apartment, or went into a care home.

How do I know that?

Because she made no new friends after she moved from her house into other accommodation. We met some incredible people with very similar interests to her living in the same place when we visited, but m-i-l made no attempt to befriend them.

dave_j

The decision to move to Canada under the supervisa and sponsorship schemes is not one to be taken lightly and I fully understand why some find it difficult
As stated by others, although basic medical services are provided at a cost once PR has been established, there will be ongoing costs into the future and a balance has to be struck of costs against the benefits of being near family.
Such a move isn't cheap and anyone moving under these schemes should realise that expenses are likely to exceed similar provisions in the UK and an amount of financial reserve is required to live stress free.
We moved as a couple. We have always been a self reliant and private couple and social interaction here is about the same as we had in the UK with the advantage that close family is nearby.

Like most things in life, you pays your money and makes your choice.

scilly

We are in the situation where our only child lives in NS, and that means our "family" is not in close proximity to us.

Do we stay here, or uproot and move to NS?

You may think that is not similar to parents moving from the UK to Canada ........... in fact the distance is greater, and as we all know provinces are very different from each other.

We made the decision years ago, perhaps made easier because we moved and left parents behind, and because we had faced the problem with m-i-l.

We will not move to NS, even after one of us has died .......... everything we need is here, including friends, hobbies, medical services, etc.

Like dave_j, we have always been a self-reliant and somewhat private couple, and believe that it is not in the interests of our daughter and her family to make her feel responsible for one or both of us as we age and become less able to deal with life independently. We do have good savings, pension, extended health, etc etc so can move with ease into suitable accommodation without putting further financial or emotional troubles on her.

As long as we can make her understand that we are being taken care of, and that she and family can visit regularly (even if we have to pay the air fare!), then we should all be able to live happily.

jerryhung

Thanks again, folks. This kind of sucks

Jerseygirl

We took out a policy with a fairly high deductible. The higher the deductible...the lower the cost of the policy. It most likely will not cover all expenses. We didn’t make a claim...it wasn’t worth it...a doctor’s apt in Toronto cost about $75 per visit. I had antibiotics for a cold and inhalers...less than $100 each.

AFAIK the policies only cover emergencies...not routine doctor visits.

Edit: A high deductible policy suited us as we had excellent US insurance..which covered us (and still does even though we are PRs) for all medical treatment and meds whilst living in Canada.

jerryhung

Thank you