Moving Back to Canada Questions

[Reba]

USCIS website - how to keep your green card

basically if you leave the US with intent to become a permanent resident of another country, you forfeit your green card.

[jewelbfly]

Often when I talk to Americans they talk in glowing terms about how wonderful Canadian healthcare is. It's not that great IMO. It's very inefficient and consumes 60% of provincial tax revenues. And you still have to pay for optometry and dentistry, and many common prescription medicines and other supplies are not covered. I have five things on prescription and Blue Cross only covers one.

I just wanted to respond to Steve's quote below. Even though you don't have prescription drug coverage in Canada your drugs are MUCH cheaper than they are in the US from my experience. I've lived in the US for 8 years now and I've been sick in both countries and I would choose the Canadian Health Care system over the US one any day! WITH prescription drug covers I pay $45 for a birth control that cost me $15 in Canada WITHOUT coverage. With coverage from my Canadian company I paid $2. Drugs are much, much more expensive here so if I pay $45 WITH insurance I can't imagine what you pay without!

On a side note, my friend broke his arm and WITH insurance he paid over $5,000 out of pocket. If he didn't have insurance it would have been well over $15,000. How many people do you know that have $5,000 extra cash hanging around let alone $15,000! My other friends mom had to have surgery and was in the hospitial for a while and they paid over $50,000 WITH insurance.

I'm always lecturing my family in Canada to value the health care system and not take it for granted. I also see it as a part of Canada's socialized identity which I love so much.

I'm hoping to move back to Alberta next year after living in Texas for almost 8 years. Talk about culture shock! And yes, I miss me some Tim's!

[Reba]

ugh.don't get me started on the US healthcare system! My husband has to go next week for a heart catheterization, and even with insurance its going to set us back a couple thousand dollars at least. On top of the couple thousand dollars for the stress test he had the week before last

Any money we had saved up that wasn't lost in the stockmarket is now going to go pay hospital bills. And then some. We wouldn't have to worry about crap like this if we were in Canada. At a time when we worry about ill health, we also have to worry about how to pay the bills and not go bankrupt? Crazy crazy system I tell ya. Really crazy.

[Steven]

Even though you don't have prescription drug coverage in Canada your drugs are MUCH cheaper than they are in the US from my experience.

Not in mine I have to say. In the US if you walk into a pharmacy then yes, you will pay more, but there are more mail order places in the US than in Canada, I know for a fact I'd save money if I lived in the US on my prescriptions. Although I suppose with the collapse of the Canadian dollar I'm currently saving money here, but that depends on what the prices are when they re-stock.