“My parents left a bigger city for a smaller town in retirement, and took their own parents with them (who were in their 80s). They soon realized that this was a big mistake, because health care in the smaller centres is just not adequate. Sure, you can see a family doctor no problem, but when Grandpa has a heart attack and needs to see a cardiologist regularly, or Grandma is going blind and needs an ophthalmologist, suddenly it becomes clear that driving 2 hours over snowy mountains to get them the care they need is just not feasible. Sounds idyllic, living in a smaller centre with your cashed-in RE wealth but it’s not for anyone who is going to get older and require the care of a health care specialist. And I sure hope my parents leave their smaller city before they get too old (which they are now seriously considering, giving their experiences with my grandparents).”
- pricedoutfornow at VREAA 25 Nov 2011 10:43am
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- “The ‘investor’ who purchased our house put it up for sale two months later, in January 1981, but the bubble had burst.”
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Good point. Although any city of 150000 or 200000 would have the capacity or facilities to handle the vicissitudes of old age. You don’t have to relocate to a town of 3000 with cash reserves; just move to Saskatoon or Regina (or even Kamloops probably).
Yes, my parents have realized that moving to a town with 5,000 people and no decent hospital was a really, really bad idea. A bigger centre would certainly be better (Kelowna, Kamloops etc) for old age, though these hospitals are coming under a lot of pressure in recent years. Heard a story recently about a guy whose wife was in labour and got turned away from 2 hospitals in the Okanagan (no beds, no doctors) before they finally found hospital #3 (several hours away from home) where she could have the baby. Where my parents live, expecting moms are told to get out of town up to a month before their due date and stay in a hotel in a city with a hospital because there’s no one locally willing to deliver babies. So it’s not just people in old age who are effected by the lack of health care services.
Holy sh*t!!! I know things can be bad, but what you said is totally unbelievable! I’m just speechless……
Wow…is this still Canada, a 1st world country, or a developing 2nd world country??
Why is there a first world country and 3rd world country but not 2nd world country??
why not try Victoria…I hear prices there are on their way down…to be honest, there are only two major cities in Canada that you could “cash out of” and come out with enough money to set up your retirement elsewhere. I am pretty sure you can find hospitals elsewhere.
There are a lot of major cities in Canada where one can buy houses for at least 40%-60% less than Vancouver and still have access to top notch health care. One doesn’t need to settle for a tiny hamlet.
Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal will all fit the bill. If anything, some of these cities have better health care than Vancouver. I have heard of people going to Toronto for certain procedures that are not available here or the wait times in Vancouver are too long.
And there’s always Costa Rica.
Good health care for foreign retirees.
medical tourism is a growth industry. india is on the cutting edge. they’re likely to surpass western care in quality and do it for about 1/5 the cost. example. http://www.apollohospitals.com/
BC health care is quite overrated actually; the system is broke and a s a result the quality of care is significantly down, the hospitals are over crowded and the wait times are too long. As with the RE, it is not sustainable in the long term.
Ontario is better in comparison.
Medical tourism in India is actually quite good. The hospitals are JCAHO credentialed and all physicians are either North American trained (mostly American) or UK trained.
Canadian health care is not what it should be. The quality of care is average due to lack of resources and poor resource management and everyone is covered on paper. A friend of mine who is a dermatologist has a wait list of 2 years (I kid you not!), a pacemaker specialist has a wait list of 8 months. What’s the point in having universal coverage with such numbers??
My point is that the general perception, whether it is about RE, or services or economic fundamentals, is so out of touch with reality.
indeed. the western system does not address cost and efficiency. this is the cornerstone of wider access to higher quality care. whatever is implemented, if there is no path to continuously drive cost, efficiency and quality, it won’t work. coverage isn’t the central issue – that’s just buying votes with someone else’s money. eg. obamacare – what a freakin joke.
There are too many entranced parties that have their hands in the honey pot, adding the fact that public opinions can be easily manipulated, and politicians who actually can do the right thing generally end up being portrayed as monsters during election time, it’s almost impossible to reform such a system for the good of many without a massive crisis. I saw a TV reports years and years ago about how New Zealand reformed most of its public services due to a default (trying to defend it’s fixed FX rate and run out of FX reserves) and end up with some interesting ideas for driving down healthcare costs while still giving most people accessibility without bankrupting them. Here the best we get are multi-year multi-millions dollar studies that gets shelved before it’s even finished.
I think the front-line staffs are generally pretty good, but resource management, support, and cost issues are just horrible. My friend’s wife is a specialist and to get access to her hospitla email from her doctor office required a 2 weeks wait time! No because there is like a big backlog but that’s how long it takes the hospital IT staff to do it. 2 weeks! That’s where a lot of fat can be trimmed if it can be done right.
Sheesh….don’t tell BPOM that a country like India can be better in health care than BC.
Not saying that healthcare in India is better than BC. It is so hard to have a mature conversation with people who have never stepped out of their bubble.
Just pointing out that if you are willing to spend money then you can get good quality private health care in India. Many rich people from middle east and surrounding countries go to these huge hospitals which maintain their care standard and give you a 5-star treatment. Most middle class population cannot afford.
You can get great health care service if you are willing to travel to US and pay for it. As is the case with rich Canadians and rich Canadian people.
The quality of care is much better than BC. For that matter, I think that even ON provides better care quality than BC.
In BC, they’d be fine and dandy in Kamloops, Prince George, or Kelowna/Vernon/Penticton. And, since the Okanagan has tanked, that entire list would be affordable.
Yeah, sure, Creston is not going to cut it. But you don’t need to move to the boondocks for decent RE prices.
The other, non-BC option… Maritimes.
You’re assuming that they’re staying in BC. Lots of people now leaving are ditching the whole province and moving to areas where they still have access to health care AND a real life. Yes, if you need highly specialized care, you may need to see specialists in a large city center, but that city doesn’t need to be Vancouver. I’ve seen better critical care and lower wait times in some of the interior hospitals than I have at VGH.
I heard that Cuba has excellent health care for foreigners willing to pay for it. Maradona has partaken several times – if I am not mistaken.
A small town doctor is “easy to find” for newcomers? I nearly choked when I read that. Maybe in the freakish, exceptional case of the OP’s parents. They didn’t relocate to PEI, I take it. I was on a waitlist for three years plus…and even then my new doctor only worked 10 hours a week (for full salary, thanks to the generosity/idiocy of the PEI govt.). Before that, it was the overcrowded night clinic, which only served the first 20 who lined up. Then it was off to waiting in a nightmare ER.
Doctors have to set up seniors on a payment plan for things like hip replacement, ’cause the PEI govt doesn’t cover these procedures. I know this goes against the grain on this board, but I’m very happy to be back in Vancouver, happy to be renting, and so very grateful I survived the “island way”.
Seems like PEI and Vancouver are the only places that you have seen in your life.
So you won the class (or should I say “caste”) lottery in your 3rd world mother country. Is that what passes for cosmopolitan within the chattering ex-pat crowd from India these days?
Talking blithely about paying for “high level” medical services is a lot like bragging about paying for sex with a high class hooker. “It’s sooo much better, let me assure you…”. Spare me the Brahmin attitude.
So you won the class (or should I say “caste”) lottery in your 3rd world mother country. Is that what passes for cosmopolitan within the chattering ex-pat crowd from India these days?
Talking blithely about paying for “high level” medical services is a lot like bragging about paying for sex with a high class hooker. “It’s sooo much better, let me assure you…”. Spare me the Brahmin attitude.
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A little scratch and the real colour starts to show !!