# Moving to Canada with a disability?



## 123cwahoo (Jan 7, 2019)

Hello, I'm going to keep it short and brief, I've recently been given an opportunity through the work and travel visa (I'm from the UK) to go live and work in Canada for 2 years. Only problem is I suffer with hereditary angioedema and take Injections to treat the condition. Was just wondering if the healthcare and such would still be able to provide me my needed medication or whether it's not possible? And anyone Canadians who also suffer from it I'd love to learn how your country deals with it.

Thanks


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

It seems like a pretty routine condition so our medical system would deal with it the same way the systems in other western countries do.


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## 123cwahoo (Jan 7, 2019)

Glad to hear it's considered routine, the illness itself is considered rare in most countries and the Injections and such are quite pricey( obvs lucky to have nhs here in UK) so was just wondering what are the chances of health insurance covering the amount of injections I would need? Sorry for all the questions, it d be a dream to live in Canada and wouldn't want to be held back.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

Just a warning... Canadian health care isn't quite like the NHS... you will be required to pay for your medicines and the costs can be eyewateringly steep (cost of medicine plus a dispensing fee, the former being a standard, industry wide, charge and the latter being set by each individual pharmacy... you are free to shop around for the cheapest dispensing fee)

While health care, as a whole, is subsidised (like the NHS), prescription charges are not. 

Unlike the NHS's prescription charge, you will be required to pay anywhere from CAD $0 to full cost of the medicine plus a dispensing fee, depending on whether you have 3rd party insurance (Blue Cross etc) or not (if you don't have 3rd party insurance, you will be responsible for the cost of your prescription), and even if you have 3rd party insurance, the amount you will have to pay will vary (my Mum and Dad had cover through their work that offered them a $0 co-pay while the cover I had through my work required me to pay 20% of the cost).

Sadly, I am not aware of any Prescription Prepayment type programs available in Canada (I am ex pharmacy tech from BC now living in London)... this isn't to say that they don't exist (I arrived in the UK 7 years ago) but rather I don't know if they existed when I was still in Canada (I was a hospital based tech and not community based) and even if they did exist, the scheme would likely vary from province to province, as prescription medicines policy is managed at the provincial level (with law and guidance from Health Canada).


On the plus side, if you get a prescription with _*X*_ repeats on it, when you go to get the prescription filled, the the repeats are noted and stay with the chemist that you use so, when you need a refill, you just need to visit the chemist to request a refill and they'll adjust the number of remaining fills accordingly (the number of available refills will be noted on the label)... no more having to go through your GP surgery to get a refill slip then going on to the chemist to get it filled. Another 'perk' is that you are free to move those remaining refills to another pharmacy within the province (i.e. you live/work in Vancouver and have gone to Prince Rupert [in the north of BC] on a business trip and find that you've run out of your thyroid medicines [you've just tossed the bottle into your wash bag without checking to see how many you have left]... you can take the bottle up to an area pharmacy and ask them if you can have a refill, as you've run out; they'll ring your Vancouver chemist to verify that the prescription is current and that there are refills remaining and, if it all checks out, will take one of those refills off of your Vancouver chemist and use it to dispense your medication [the Vancouver chemist will deduct the refill off of your profile in their records].


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

123cwahoo said:


> Glad to hear it's considered routine, the illness itself is considered rare in most countries and the Injections and such are quite pricey( obvs lucky to have nhs here in UK) so was just wondering what are the chances of health insurance covering the amount of injections I would need? Sorry for all the questions, it d be a dream to live in Canada and wouldn't want to be held back.




Health insurance will vary by employer so there is no way for anyone to predict whether the injections would be covered or not.

As for it being routine, that was just my personal opinion.


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