More About Healthcare in Canada

Worried that you might need healthcare services? Additionally, your parents immigration to Canada may be made easier, with less worry, if they know more about the healthcare system in their new country. Knowing how the system works will make your adjustment, and that of your family, smoother.

Provincial healthcare coverage may be available immediately in some of the provinces, while in others, a waiting period of up to three months may be necessary.

The cost of health care is shared by taxpayers, making it publicly funded. It is a single payer system, which means that those who are eligible typically do not have to pay for hospitals or most health care services.

Health insurance is applied to from your territory. The following people can apply:

• Canadian citizens
• Permanent residents
• Foreign workers on permits to work
• Some international students

If you are a new permanent resident, it will be up to your province to decide if you have to wait three months or whether you are covered immediately after arrival.

Private health insurance may be the best option during this period. Workers and student and other temporary residents might want to review the options for travel insurance. Some companies, such as Cigna Global are leaders in this type of policy.

If you’ve moved to Canada under a work or study permit, you will also want to be covered with health insurance. You may be anxious to try the beautiful snowy slopes of Canada, skiing and snowboarding for fun. You’ll want to be sure you have medical backup in the event of a slope-side accident. You might want to ask the travel insurance provider some questions.

If you are buying travel insurance before you arrive, you can buy it in your home country.

You may bring your prescription medication with you in a 90-day supply for yourself or your children. The drug or drugs must be in packaging that is hospital or pharmacy-dispensed or in the original retail packaging. It should be clearly labeled what it is and what it contains.

Once you need more of the medication, it must be prescribed by a doctor in Canada; the pharmacist will not fill the prescription if it is not from a Canadian doctor. Some of the ways that you may get a prescription include:

• Walk-in clinic – you just walk in and see a doctor
• Family doctor- find one if you are a staying in Canada
• Campus doctor – international students

In cases of emergency, immediate care for emergencies is available at an emergency room at a hospital nearby or by calling 9-1-1.

It is important to consider your options for health care before you are a permanent resident of Canada. If you have questions regarding citizenship, residency or other immigration concern, contact us. We are licensed Canadian immigration consultants and may help you.