Getting Pediatrician for New Born moving from US

[ryeCatcher]

It sounds as though she is not be entitled to MSP. Is she living permanently in Bellingham Washington? If that is the case she isn’t entitled to MSP at all. She could be asked to pay back all healthcare she used when she was not entitled and is actually committing healthcare fraud. If she has been living in the US and moves to BC she may be required to reapply for MSP depending on how long she spent outside Canada. How long was she in the US? This is to prevent people returning to Canada to primarily access healthcare and ensure that mostly taxpayers are the ones accessing healthcare. Are you both going to be living in Canada longterm after having your child. When your child is born and you apply for MSP you have to agree that your child will be meeting the residency requirement to qualify to receive MSP. In general to access healthcare in Canada you have to have a valid health card and meet the residency requirement.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/eligibility-and-enrolment/are-you-eligible

She is very much entitled to MSP, as I mentioned earlier she has live here with me in Langley for the last ~12 months ...only moved there for the last ~2 months of the pregnancy and for delivery on doctors recommendation to stop the back and forth travel. I have specifically called MSP and confirmed with them that she has 6 months before she is ineligible for MSP. We have no intention of being gone for more than 2-3 max depending on her doctors recommendation. If you are worried about fraud, don't worry no intention of doing any such thing, we have used exactly $0 of MSP since moving here so no concerns there too

Residents who will be absent from B.C. for six months or more in a calendar year, need to contact Health Insurance BC to confirm continued eligibility and discuss options for continued MSP coverage that may be available during an absence.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/managing-your-msp-account/leaving-bc-temporarily

 

[ryeCatcher]

Does the baby need a doctor every day? If not, you worry too much..

No of course not, but we would rather just find a doctor here and avoid the back and forth needlessly. Its an hour to cross the border and then 40 minutes to Bellingham proper, we plan to live here and would ideally like to find a doc here ... of course if all else fails we will go to Bellingham but would like to avoid if possible

 

[YVR123]

For me, weeks after moving to Vancouver.

I had 3 family doctors in the last 10 years. My original one was very good but she retired early and she was able to refer me to a doctor that accepted limited number of patients. But that new family doctor was not very attentive...

So I was on search for the last few years (started before COVID) and finally found a new one this year. She is a young doctor, likely fresh from med school. Very attentive and send me to some tests hearing that I haven't got any of those done with my pervious family doctor. I found her from a social media post of a piece of paper posted outside of the clinic that she joined. I called the number and they put me on the waiting list.. and surprise! They called a couple f months later to ask if I wanted to make an appointment to see my new family doctor.

So, you just need to keep looking, put name on lists and just a bit of luck too.

 

[YVR123]

No of course not, but we would rather just find a doctor here and avoid the back and forth needlessly. Its an hour to cross the border and then 40 minutes to Bellingham proper, we plan to live here and would ideally like to find a doc here ... of course if all else fails we will go to Bellingham but would like to avoid if possible

In your case, you likely won't be able to get a family doctor right away. Use the walk-in and keep searching.
Hopefully, more family doctors will practice in BC.

 

[steaky]

I had 3 family doctors in the last 10 years. My original one was very good but she retired early and she was able to refer me to a doctor that accepted limited number of patients. But that new family doctor was not very attentive...

So I was on search for the last few years (started before COVID) and finally found a new one this year. She is a young doctor, likely fresh from med school. Very attentive and send me to some tests hearing that I haven't got any of those done with my pervious family doctor. I found her from a social media post of a piece of paper posted outside of the clinic that she joined. I called the number and they put me on the waiting list.. and surprise! They called a couple f months later to ask if I wanted to make an appointment to see my new family doctor.

So, you just need to keep looking, put name on lists and just a bit of luck too.

For the last 10 years, I only got one. I didn't bother to get a better one.

 

[YVR123]

For the last 10 years, I only got one. I didn't bother to get a better one.

I didn't want to switch but she was just so bad that I prefer to go to a walk-in clinic instead of seeing her... And I delay seeing a doctor when I got sick. That's when I realized that I need one that I can trust and discuss my health with. So far, I like my new doctor.

 

[canuck78]

She is very much entitled to MSP, as I mentioned earlier she has live here with me in Langley for the last ~12 months ...only moved there for the last ~2 months of the pregnancy and for delivery on doctors recommendation to stop the back and forth travel. I have specifically called MSP and confirmed with them that she has 6 months before she is ineligible for MSP. We have no intention of being gone for more than 2-3 max depending on her doctors recommendation. If you are worried about fraud, don't worry no intention of doing any such thing, we have used exactly $0 of MSP since moving here so no concerns there too



https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/managing-your-msp-account/leaving-bc-temporarily

Just clarifying that your baby will also need to meet the residency requirements. You seem to be working and living in the US so if your wife’s on maternity leave she and the baby can’t spend the year after the baby is born in the US. Assume both of you are filing taxes in Canada even if your wife is the only one living in Canada.

 

[YVR123]

Just clarifying that your baby will also need to meet the residency requirements. You seem to be working and living in the US so if your wife’s on maternity leave she and the baby can’t spend the year after the baby is born in the US. Assume both of you are filing taxes in Canada even if your wife is the only one living in Canada.

if ryeCatcher has been trueful in his post in this discussion. He has been living and working in Langley which is a suburb in BC. So if his wife move back soon after baby is born, she would be OK to meet residency requirements. But the baby would need to get private health insurance coverage for emergency and once the sponsorship for the child has reach AOR, I think some reported back that they were able to add the dependent in the family's MSP and get a temporary health card (need to update when PR is approved and landing completed).

I think baby can get the regular shots at walk-in clinics. Just need to call ahead and make sure that specific clinic has doctors to handle those.

 

[ryeCatcher]

I think some reported back that they were able to add the dependent in the family's MSP and get a temporary health card (need to update when PR is approved and landing completed).

I think baby can get the regular shots at walk-in clinics. Just need to call ahead and make sure that specific clinic has doctors to handle those.

This is what I had heard too (just random facebook posts) of someone getting a temporary health card based on AOR or even earlier in some cases.
We are happy to get private insurance in the interim, our main concern is regular checkups etc being able to see a doctor, thank you for the useful information...

 

[ryeCatcher]

Just clarifying that your baby will also need to meet the residency requirements. You seem to be working and living in the US so if your wife’s on maternity leave she and the baby can’t spend the year after the baby is born in the US. Assume both of you are filing taxes in Canada even if your wife is the only one living in Canada.

I don't think thats very relevant to the topic here... but yes we are both filing taxes in both countries and will likely have to continue doing that for a long time (US based stock/brokerage accounts etc)