Posted by octopusprime on February 16, 2004, at 21:14:38
In reply to Re: I just hired an advocate for SSDI *rant* » socialdeviantjeff, posted by Karen_kay on February 15, 2004, at 19:41:47
well i can only speak about ontario and british columbia, because that's where i've tried the fine medicines, but here goes ...
british columbia is not a bad place to move if you're feeling mentally ill. however, you get no medical coverage until you're (a) a canadian citizen / permanent resident and (b) you've been in the province 3 months.
if you are hella poor (that is, you make less than $16,000 a year), your doctors appointments are free, and you have something like a $1000/yr deductible for drugs, and the rest are free. if you make more than $24,000 a year, you pay $54/mo for basic medical, and your drug deductible is $3000 a year. drugs are always free if you're in a hospital.
you can visit a shrink for free, and sometimes see a free counselor (once every two weeks or month). you have to be really insane in vancouver to see a free counselor, but if you live in the burbs you can be less insane and still see a counselor for free.
oh yes, and i was taking celexa 20 mg and seroquel 25 mg and the prescriptions cost $75/mo, so i wouldn't have hit my deductible.
in ontario you don't have to pay at all for doctors appointments, no matter how much you make. but they don't have any drug coverage or max deductibles, so if you take an expensive cocktail it's all out of pocket. shrinks are free, and i'm not sure how much it costs to see a counselor.
most people here have private insurance through their employers that covers drugs and basic medical premiums. this way i pay 20% out of pocket for drugs. (so my $75/mo for drugs is now $15/mo). and of course you don't get good counseling for free, that will still run you over $100/hr which is poorly covered by insurance.
however the welfare/disability stuff is still pretty bad. i think you get all your drugs for free. i looked it up, a single person in bc gets $461 + $325/mo shelter allowance. that won't buy you a heck of a lot. (shared housing situation, public transit, food, and that's about it).
so long and the short of it, if you move to canada, feel free to call. we also have tim hortons, which is quite therapeutic. and bc is famed for its bc bud, which some claim to be therapeutic.
poster:octopusprime
thread:313034
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040209/msgs/314339.html