BIRD TALK

Is there a way to estimate the amount of provincial health plan coverage for health costs incurred in the U.S.? The reimbursement amount is important to know, in order to help snowbirds choose a deductible amount when they are buying out-of-country insurance.

Snowbirds, beware! I received a disappointing 14% ($980) from OHIP of the CDN$7,000 cost of my emergency retinal surgery in the U.S. I had chosen an insurance deductible of $10,000 to reduce my premium, so I had to rely on OHIP to help cover my costs. I also learned that the cost of my surgery would have been many times more expensive if I went to a hospital, instead of visiting an ophthalmologist.

I had wrongly assumed that OHIP would reimburse me for the approximate cost of the same surgery in Ontario, but it appears that it did not. There is no way that a vitrectomy and retinal tear surgery with an ophthalmologist and anesthesiologist only costs $980 in Ontario. This must mean that snowbirds save OHIP – and perhaps other provincial health plans – an enormous amount of money in health-care costs if they require medical care while travelling abroad. If this is true, Canada should be supporting snowbirds in any way that they can.

Brad Gris
Binbrook, ON

Ed.: The reimbursement rate should not be a factor in determining your deductible. If you purchase out-of-country medical insurance and receive medical services outside of Canada, your medical insurance provider will receive the reimbursement, not you. You will not be able to collect the reimbursement amount and apply it to your deductible. Your deductible amount should only reflect what you can afford to pay in the event of a medical emergency; nothing else. Your comments regarding Canadian snowbirds actually saving Canadian taxpayers money are well stated and well received. This is precisely what the CSA has been arguing for more than 30 years.