Broken Clavicle - Canadian citizen without health care

[paulmason411]

I'm currently living in Australia and have just had surgery on my broken clavicle. I'm moving to British Colombia next wednesday (23rd of nov) and am a Canadian  citizen (inherited through my parents) but haven't ever lived there. So apparently i need to apply for the public health care but will take 3 months.

My orthopaedic surgen advised that I get an x-ray in 6 weeks (29th of dec) and I don't have travel insurance so from what I've heard it could be pretty expensive.

Am I able to get health insurance or speed up my application to get on the health care system in 5/6 weeks?

Also can anyone estimate the costs involved to get my clavicle assessed in 6 weeks?

I can change my flight if it's going to cost me 1000s of dollars, but need to make a decision in the next couple of days.

Any help would really be appreciated, thanks.

[scylla]

I can't comment on the cost of the xrays.

However I would forget about travel insurance or any other kind of private insurance. They don't cover pre-existing conditions (unless you pay extremely high premiums) and for this reason won't cover anything related to your clavicle.

There is no way to speed up the public health insurance application. You're going to have to wait three months after arriving.

[steaky]

Go and move to Alberta right after your arrive in YVR airport on 23 Nov, you may eligible for public health insurance immediately.   Note: temperature for Calgary was -16 degrees celsius!

[Leon]

Move to any province except BC, Ontario, Quebec or NB and you will most likely have instant health care coverage as somebody moving from outside Canada.

However, make sure you stay there for at least 6 months before moving anywhere else because otherwise, they may decide that you shouldn't have gotten their coverage and backcharge you.

[Baloo]

You could contact one of these businesses.

http://ca.local.yahoo.com/BC/Vancouver/Health+Beauty/Laboratories/X-Ray,+MRI,+Imaging