Provincial Health Care Coverage
Posted date : Nov 7, 2017.
Dear Bird Talk,
In a previous answer, you stated that provinces should be happy to extend the number of days of out-of-country health-care coverage as this will reduce their health-care costs? Would you explain?
Nancy McRae
Charlottetown, PE
Response:
Ed: Every emergency operation and every doctor’s visit that happens outside of Canada is a medical expense that would normally be paid by the provincial medicare plan. Provinces pay, basically, nothing for services provided outside of Canada, usually in the range of 5% of the actual bill. You still fund your “free” PEI health care with your taxes, payroll taxes and other levies but, by travelling, you end up using fewer services than the person who does not travel. I must commend PEI, however, for being one of the few provinces that complies with the Canada Health Act. They pay for medical services outside of the province at the same rate as if the services had been provided in the province. This represents 12-15% of most bills from the U.S. In reality, the people who do not travel benefit from our absences as we take pressure off the medical facilities and better care can then be provided to them.
