Going to miss Canada

[twin810s 23]

See that is the one bad thing - if you work, have insurance (which sometimes is crappy) you get stuck with bills. BUT if you live off the government and have medicaid - have a baby, it's free. Which is unfair. You get screwed for educating yourself and/or getting a job instead of living off the government. And you can't get any type of assistance because you make too much - it's a vicious circle.

[NikLR 13,227]

Yes the health insurance isn't ALL bad I would say...it is just bad for people who don't have good health insurance. From what I understand about what I am getting..we have to pay everything up to...$6000? I mean if I had something horrible happen that cost way more than that...it wouldn't be so bad, but I don't like the idea of going to the doctor for a little thing and I have to pay. The main thing I am worried about is pregnancy costs/having a baby. We don't PLAN on having a baby for 3-5 years from now, but never say never right? If I was to get pregnant right now, we would of course have the baby, and that is what worries me..what if something happened. We can't afford thousands of dollars for health care. Hopefully nothing happens between now and whenever I/he gets a job that has good health insurance benefits, but I worry a bit too much! He doesn't have to worry about it while he's in school (until he is 26) because he is with his parents insurance still which I find a bit frusterating that I can't be added to, even though he is my husband.. but oh well, eventually it will be all good I am sure!

Sounds like a high deducible plan. Ours is similar, $5000 until the deductible is met (but we can use our HSA to pay for anything) and after that everything is covered. It's not ideal for someone who's pregnant so you may want to look into when you can change your plan. Hubs and I are pretty healthy so really it's only for my yearly tests and if we need to go to emerg. The nice part is the saving into the HSA if there is an issue, and we can use that until we're 65. Since he's gov't we'll always have access to good plans, the hard part for us is picking out the plan.

[kc247 22]

Sounds like a high deducible plan. Ours is similar, $5000 until the deductible is met (but we can use our HSA to pay for anything) and after that everything is covered. It's not ideal for someone who's pregnant so you may want to look into when you can change your plan. Hubs and I are pretty healthy so really it's only for my yearly tests and if we need to go to emerg. The nice part is the saving into the HSA if there is an issue, and we can use that until we're 65. Since he's gov't we'll always have access to good plans, the hard part for us is picking out the plan.

Yes it is definitely high, i would rather something much lower but since I am healthy I am hoping I won't have a problem. It is mainly in case of emergency. I have only had to go to the Dr once in the past year, because I cut my finger on a bread knife. & other than that only for girly exams. I was happy to have the free health care once that I had to go in for an ultrasound a couple years ago, luckily it was nothing but stuff like that worries me as I imagine it would be expensive here! I will definitely get a better one when we plan on getting pregnant, hopefully by then we will have one through a job.

[serena28 2]

Sounds like a high deducible plan. Ours is similar, $5000 until the deductible is met (but we can use our HSA to pay for anything) and after that everything is covered. It's not ideal for someone who's pregnant so you may want to look into when you can change your plan. Hubs and I are pretty healthy so really it's only for my yearly tests and if we need to go to emerg. The nice part is the saving into the HSA if there is an issue, and we can use that until we're 65. Since he's gov't we'll always have access to good plans, the hard part for us is picking out the plan.

$6000 for individual insurance is high but family it's ok. I have private health insurance and my deductible is about $3500 (kinda high I think) and after the baby comes it will jump to $7000!!! In my opinion, it is really expensive especially when I add the cost of $400/month premium (that is $4800/year)

So this cost of medical is quite high in my opinion because I've never had to pay for any medical expenses. My health insurance from work was really good but the job wasn't as good as my hubby's. I feel that one person in the family (husband or wife) has to just work somewhere to get good health insurance. My sister in law is also having a baby and she's paid only $20 copay for her monthly visits so far (X5 visits so far) and her health insurance is basically covering for everything else. She works for a bigger firm...

I wonder what old people do in this country? Like someone just said, people that have jobs (middle class families) they get stuck with medical bills and people that have NO income whatsoever because of whatever reason end up getting full coverage from medicaid. It really makes no sense..

[serena28 2]

The other thing I find extremely bizarre in this country is:

YOU CANNOT DEDUCT Student loans expenses from your taxes AND you can only deduct the interest portion which is also capped for individuals making over $130K. So if you make (COMBINED - husband and wife) more than $130K then you cannot deduct anything from your student loan expenses.

I remember getting nice refunds coming right out of university in Canada because I had paid about $30K in student loans and every year Revenue Canada allowed to deduct a portion of the student loan from my income as expenses. >>>>MEANING >>>Canadian government ENCOURAGED graduates to pay back their student loans with policies of that kind.

Here in this country, you cannot:

A) deduct student loans paid in the past as expenses at all...

B) Interest on student loans can only be deductible for families making $130K or less (After 80K only 50% is allowed to be deducted - so stupid)

C) If you do pay back your student loans in any given year - there's absolutely to tax benefit of doing that. On the other hand, mortgage interest is deductible which only encourages people to take on MORE debt in a form of mortgage

D) Rental expenses are not deductible AT ALL at the federal level, only some states allow for some relief for the expenses of paying house rent. Whereas in Canada, if you are a tenant, the government allows for some rental cost to be deducted as expenses at the federal so people can SAVE for the down payment of a potential buying of a home in the future

[NikLR 13,227]

My last student loan was 12 years ago so forgive me, but I think student loans in Canada go through the Bank of Canada, vs a private bank. If so then encouraging payments is in the government's best interest. I'm not sure it works the same way here. Guess I'll find out in Sept.

[Weston3220 4]

THE Biggest thing is Vancouver Sushi! and West Coast Sockeye Salmon!!!

Ill miss Vancouver Mountain and snow capped mountains, hiking in rain forest mountains

But moving to San Diego, and starting up a business Im all for

That and I can cycle 11months of the year, buy wine at half the price im all for it

[pro_star 52]

Wow how many of us are SoCal bound?

Canadians reunite!!! I'll find cheese curds and make some awesome poutine!!

*edit* Weston, half price? Haven't met the "two buck chuck" yet have you??

Yeah. Two dollar bottles of wine.

(I'm not a lush I swear...)

[kc247 22]

Wow how many of us are SoCal bound?

Canadians reunite!!! I'll find cheese curds and make some awesome poutine!!

*edit* Weston, half price? Haven't met the "two buck chuck" yet have you??

Yeah. Two dollar bottles of wine.

(I'm not a lush I swear...)

I wish I was California bound...we went to Anaheim for our honeymoon and I would of gladly stayed! I love warm weather. People here are like 'you are Canadian you must be used to it!' I may be used to it but that doesn't mean I like it! It is warmer here in Utah than home, but not a whole lot, just shorter winters mainly.

I found cheese curds at a local grocery store and was way too excited. I have also made home made donairs for a few friends that turned out fabulous!

[kashewmoo 9]

I wish I was California bound...we went to Anaheim for our honeymoon and I would of gladly stayed! I love warm weather. People here are like 'you are Canadian you must be used to it!' I may be used to it but that doesn't mean I like it! It is warmer here in Utah than home, but not a whole lot, just shorter winters mainly.

I found cheese curds at a local grocery store and was way too excited. I have also made home made donairs for a few friends that turned out fabulous!

I love the assumption about being used to cold weather! I'm asked that quite frequently in Colorado, but seeing as I'm from Victoria and the west coast, it never, ever snows here, nor does the temperature ever truly get that cold. I've yet to experience a true Canadian winter. :X

Oh, and then there's the assumption by people here that Colorado must be snowy and freezing all the time. Then I have the pleasure of telling them I'm in Boulder, there are more sunny days than rainy days in Seattle, and snow regularly melts before noon if it does fall, haha.

[canadian_wife 1,822]

I moved to the deep south and I thought I had moved into a different world. I couldn't understand the accents, I hated the food, and I cried every day for 2 weeks.

It gets better, you meet people and get new experiences.

Now I go home and say "y'all"

[Erica & L 50]

I moved to the deep south and I thought I had moved into a different world. I couldn't understand the accents, I hated the food, and I cried every day for 2 weeks.

It gets better, you meet people and get new experiences.

Now I go home and say "y'all"

Hahaha sometimes I catch myself saying y'all when I'm in a group of people. A big thing here is everyone says yes ma'am or no sir or whatever instead of just yes please or no thank you and since I'm going to be working soon I have to remember to try and say it otherwise it's not considered polite and I don't want to come off as rude when I'm trying to get hired somewhere even though I don't personally consider myself rude. Just a custom thing in the south.

[canadian_wife 1,822]

You are totally right, if you do not say ma'am or sir then it is considered rude, when speaking to people it is necessity

Took me a while and lots of dirty looks for me to learn that

[Erica & L 50]

I still don't say it really (lol oops) but I plan to try my hardest to remember when I'm working. We're only going to live here for a few more months anyways, then back to the lovely and familiar west coast!

[CanGirl 95]

I don't understand the yes ma'am and yes sir thing, to me it doesn't come natural off my tongue so it would probably sound sarcastic when I say it lol oops

Good thing I'll be living in Michigan

Edited April 16, 2014 by CanGirl