[Merridith]

Hi Rupali:

I am Canadian. Here are some of the things that I think that you should think about:

1. Each province controls Canadian Public Health Insurance individually. These plans are not identical. For instance, most provinces will cover the cost of Herceptin, but some will only cover it if your cancer is described at a certain “stage”.
2. If you want to buy Tykerb and have it administered, you can do this at a private clinic. Most provinces have these in the LARGEST cities. You will also have to pay for the cost of infusion in addition to purchasing the Tykerb. These private clinics are (depending on the province) exist on the political fringe of acceptance and have been targeted at various times for shut down by politicians by limiting the types of treatment that would be deemed legal under our socialist medical system.
This political wind can put these private clinics in a precarious financial position and as a result make it slightly risky to rely on their continued existence. Some provinces are more politically opposed than others.
You can circumvent this problem by living close to the border. It is common for Canadians to travel to the US to get treatment – and as a result all the US border towns have lots of medical clinics available just to accommodate this – such as infusion clinics.
3. Look carefully at the fine print of your husband’s extended health insurance, as there are sometimes exclusions for existing conditions. The question to ask yourself is “If we move to another country i.e. US or Canada - does our carrier remain the same or does it CHANGE?”
4. Pharmaceuticals such as Aromasin & Zolodex are only covered by medical insurance if your income is under a certain amount. The other condition is that if you spend a total amount of more than X annually on prescription medication this subsidy will kick in. You need to check what the income cut-off is as it differs with each province. Additionally the medications that are covered ALSO vary with each provincial plan.
5. While it is true that Canada offers universal medical access – it has in many areas of its’ medical system very long wait-lists to access it. These waitlists are prioritized based on medical urgency and you can be continually “bumped” down the list if someone more urgent upstages you.
Cancer in general is considered “urgent”. However if a different medical condition were to arise – for instance if you needed a knee replacement, you could easily be forced to wait many months for the necessary surgery. Here again – wealthy Canadians solve their problem by going over the border to the US to those handy clinics set up just on the other side to deal with this.

On a different note - the Canadian currency is rapidly gaining value against the American currency. You will be able to purchase more treatment using Canadian currency than if you are paid in American currency. The difference in valuation in currency is likely to increase because of the ongoing worsening of the American credit crisis and more and more countries refuse to hold and deal with the American currency. (I am an active investor)

Good luck!
Merridith