Yes, and no! Elective surgery probably wouldn't be covered in any case so yes, basically emergency only. However, some Cdns travel outside of the province for some surgery that can not be provided in their home province, usually because of a time consideration or because of a technical aspect of the surgery. That would have to be approved in advance.
While universal health care is federally mandated, each province manages their own residents health coverage and establishes their own rules and payments.
At present I am an Ontario resident. As such I have to be in the province for 6 months of the year to keep my health coverage intact. Once I move to British Columbia, they're residency requirement is only 5 months....
When I travel outside the province (yes, even to other provinces) I need to purchase private insurance to top up what my own provincial coverage won't pay for outside of Ontario. Prices for out of province/out of country insurance vary by age,state of your health, where you're traveling and how long you're going to be out of province and of course, which insurance company you go to.
While Ontario would pay the full cost of a standard ward bed or better as medically required for hospitalization in Ontario, they only currently pay $400.00 CANADIAN towards any hospital bed in the US. Rates of reimbursement are similarly extremely limited for all types of occurrences.
I had to hunt for coverage last year that was affordable for me. I have no health issues that are cause for concern to an insurance company but because I avoid western medical care except for 'mechanical repairs' I had to hunt for a company that gave me a good rate. Most downgraded my rating because I hadn't seen a primary care physician in the previous 2 years. I found one that simply (at the end of 10 pages of questionaire..sigh) asked if my prescriptions had changed in the last six months. They make the assumption that by the time you're my age, you're already on multiple prescriptions and they are just looking for stability. Icould honestly answer yes to the question - my prescriptions hadn't changed in the previous six months - I'm not on any!! Needless to say, I went back to them again this year instead of shopping the market.
I paid just under $600.00 for 6 months worth of top up insurance but that comes with a hefty $5,000. Cdn deductible. I could have had a $1,000 deductible but the premium was substantially higher.
The cost of out of province coverage is what eventually stops a lot of Canadians from continuing their life as snowbirds. The premiums just get to the point where you either take the chance and don't buy any coverage or you pay exorbitant amounts for insurance.
