scrubbedexpat091

What he said ^^^^^^^^^^

Whistler Medical center has a big sign at the admission station that says pre-payment required, base charge $720 dollars + whatever the doctors fees are + supplies+ equipment+ lab etc.

At the end it says they will be happy to provide you with a receipt, and they do not bill insurance companies.

I've seen a lot of shocked people upset in that health center when told their bill at the end (they also act as the local lab, x-ray, CT scan and ER for MSP covered folks as well.)

One reason I never took extended benefits through employers (the 1 or 2 times it was offered, its not been the norm) as they were all reimbursement plans, and well useless for a 10/hr job and where one doesn't have the money upfront.

My coverage now is through blue cross but a government plan, and it's all direct billed, not sure if normal blue cross plans direct bill or not.

beckiwoo

That's disgraceful especially if someone has a bad accident.

I'll be using the direct billing providers then.

beckiwoo

Mine is with Pacific Blue Cross. I'm not sure but I got told as long as I showed my card. They get billed by the provider??

Really weird system - I actually miss the NHS, this seems too complicated!

scrubbedexpat091

A normal hospital would probably direct bill for you, but the Whistler health center likely doesn't because the bulk of their patients are on travel insurance and it's likely just too much work for them to be able to do it and keep track, so they just pass it onto the patient to deal with.

If it's life threatening, you won't be staying in Whistler, you'd be either taken by ambulance to Squamish or Vancouver, or flown to one of them by chopper, the health centre isn't really a hospital, but more of an urgent care facility to deal with fairly minor things that just need outpatient treatment.



Just random bit about condition of the slopes, looked bad again, all rain from top to bottom. On the lower end of the slopes you can see dirt coming through the snow. More rain and higher temps expected through early next week.

They were calling it spring like conditions today. Not even able to make snow since it's above freezing.

For a Friday the place was dead.