I'm soon to be relocating to Vancouver with my husband and infant daughter. I've lived in 2 countries with good public healthcare (Australia and Finland), so I'm struggling to understand some aspects of the BC system that seem to be quite different to what I'm used to.
In both Australia and Canada, we supplemented out public healthcare access with private health insurance. In Australia we had to take out this insurance ourselves, whereas in Finland it is provided through our employer. In Vancouver, too, my husband's employer provides private health insurance. What surprises us, however, is that this coverage is for things like life/disability insurance, dental, chiro, etc... it doesn't actually cover our family for specialists or heart surgery or cancer treatment or any of the big catastrophic things that can happen health-wise. My husband's new employer is a worldwide leader in its field and prides itself on taking great care of employees, so I'm sure this private coverage is top notch. Surely we're reading these (admittedly very complex) policy documents wrong? Are we correct in assuming that ALL emergency treatments must be dealt with via the public system?
Surely obtaining emergency treatment outside of the public system (thus bypassing waiting lists) will incur astronomical fees?
My main concern is obtaining health coverage for my baby daughter. I know we will be subjected to a 3 month waiting period for public healthcare. If she's not covered in the public system, and the private insurance doesn't cover her either (from what we can gather) what do we do to provide her with the best possible coverage?
Edited to add that yes, we will be entitled to public healthcare as temporary (2 year+) residents.
In both Australia and Canada, we supplemented out public healthcare access with private health insurance. In Australia we had to take out this insurance ourselves, whereas in Finland it is provided through our employer. In Vancouver, too, my husband's employer provides private health insurance. What surprises us, however, is that this coverage is for things like life/disability insurance, dental, chiro, etc... it doesn't actually cover our family for specialists or heart surgery or cancer treatment or any of the big catastrophic things that can happen health-wise. My husband's new employer is a worldwide leader in its field and prides itself on taking great care of employees, so I'm sure this private coverage is top notch. Surely we're reading these (admittedly very complex) policy documents wrong? Are we correct in assuming that ALL emergency treatments must be dealt with via the public system?
Surely obtaining emergency treatment outside of the public system (thus bypassing waiting lists) will incur astronomical fees?
My main concern is obtaining health coverage for my baby daughter. I know we will be subjected to a 3 month waiting period for public healthcare. If she's not covered in the public system, and the private insurance doesn't cover her either (from what we can gather) what do we do to provide her with the best possible coverage?
Edited to add that yes, we will be entitled to public healthcare as temporary (2 year+) residents.
