As I’ve said many times, Canada has great healthcare coverage for Canadians, visitors and foreigners, not so much. This is especially true if you’re an American. While your car insurance travels with you across the border, with few exceptions your healthcare coverage does not. This then is the story of how I managed to run up over $65,000 CA in medical bills with a simple little heart attack.
Brother Can You Spare A Bypass Operation
If you’ve been reading the Cardiac Chronicles from the beginning you know I received outstanding care from every member of a highly skilled team of medical professionals in one the best cardiac care centers in Canada. And, I’m happy to report I’ve made remarkable progress in my recovery and feel better than I have in years.
Oddly enough all of this happened just six weeks before I received full nonresident spousal healthcare as part of Jon’s benefit package at his new job.
Over the past four months Jon and I have been pursuing every financial assistance option we can find to help pay down the bills to no avail. The most common reason we don’t qualify for help is that I am not yet a permanent resident, which is why I’m here today asking for your help to pay the bills.
We will be starting a GoFundMe campaign later this week, which those of you on our Facebook friends lists will most likely be hearing about, and, of course, there is the donation button here on the site.
As we’ve learned throughout this ordeal, even regular readers of TheStorytellerCafe.com have questions as to how we got into this awkward situation, especially in a nation known for making healthcare available to everyone, how did I managed to slip through the cracks.
As we say here at the cafe, let me tell you a story.
I received outstanding care from every member of a highly skilled team of medical professionals in one the best cardiac care centers in Canada.
Like most disasters this story is a series or cascade of events that came together with, shall we say, less than optimal results. It is a complex series of actions, incidents, and occurrences that I will do my best to simplify.
As the old saying goes, a failure to plan is a plan for failure, but really who do you know ever “planned” to fall in love, and falling in love was my first step on the road to physical and financial catastrophe.
If you aren’t familiar with the story of how I went from being a bored overaged single in California to being a newlywed in Ontario, Canada you can read the entire saga here on The Storyteller Cafe in the serialized version of my book, God Can Wait.
My now husband Jon and I spent nearly a year together on and off before deciding we wanted to be together permanently. I say on and off because I returned to California regularly to both renew my Visa and, as a Type II diabetic with a history of heart disease, keep my regularly scheduled lab work and appointments with my doctor.
Jon knew about my medical conditions prior to our dating and was pleased, as was I, with the outcome of my lab work and tests. In late 2015 a cardiac stress tested showed that oxygen blood flow to my heart was normal. I passed a colonoscopy with flying colors. During our time together, all of my lab tests came back well within my HMO’s guidelines.
In late 2016, we decided to live together and planned to marry once Jon finished his certification classes, provincial exams, and was working full time as a 2nd Class Power Systems Engineer.
This meant we would be living on a very tight budget, as his only income came from Ontario student grants and loans and my only income came from US Social Security. It was difficult but we made it work and were, and still are, very happy together.
Following my December 2016 return to Palm Springs, this time with Jonny, I ran into my first ever problem crossing into Canada, which resulted in a sudden and unexpected Sault Ste Marie, Michigan wedding. Again, you can read the story of how this came to be in Chapter 37 Don’t Forget Your Utility Bills of God Can Wait.
Now back in Sudbury married to a Canadian I began the process of applying for Permanent Residency status. The cost to apply on your own is nearly $1,500 CA. It can cost an additional $3,000 to $5,000 CA if you use an immigration law firm. Obviously we had to go the do-it-yourself route, which made our monthly budgeting even tighter.
The biggest surprise, however, came when I was advised by multiple sources not to leave the country during the application process. “You will in all likelihood be denied re-entry into the country until a decision has been rendered on your application.”
The process of applying for residency takes months. There’s a boat load of affidavits to acquire and forms to complete. The first application package we submitted was returned for a series (3) of technical errors. It took me nearly a month to complete and reassemble a second application package.
In the meantime, because I could not leave the country, I began to miss medical appointment after appointment in California. Jon’s student healthcare plan had no provision for spouses. Additionally, travel insurance was out of the question, and because of my medical history it was completely cost prohibitive.
And then came the unexpected and unplanned for…
At last count—believe it or not there are still some bills trickling in—the total cost for emergency, pre-op and post-op quadruple bypass surgery care comes to a little over $65,000 CA or roughly, as the exchange rate varies, $51,000 US.
As I said, Jon and I have tried everything we can think of to get help paying down the bills with no luck. The most common reason we don’t qualify for help is that I am not yet a permanent resident and it’s my name on all the invoices.
Prior to moving to Canada, I began TheStorytellerCafe.com to supplement my Social Security income. A few of you have been generous enough over the past three and a half years so that the annual costs for the domain names and the hosting service are paid for.
Before my surgery, Jonny and I set up a budgetary plan that will enable us to pay off his student obligations in a bit over two years. It won’t mean living as spartanly as we did in Sudbury, but we won’t be planning on things like vehicle replacement or a condo purchase for sometime after that. And, it won’t leave us much in the way of making payments on my hospital bills.
In the meantime I’m offering this and the other stories here at TheStorytellerCafe.com for your ongoing reading pleasure in the hope that you find this collection of writings worth treating like a subscription to a magazine or akin to your monthly cable bill.
Hey, at least we don’t make you take two dozen channels you’re never going to watch.
Edited by
Kenneth Larsen
Next week: TBD
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