Complications: Medicare and Private Insurance

I received some information from the New Brunswick Medicare people this morning.  Basically, NB Medicare will pay for overseas “emergency” care up to $100 per day for hospital stays and NB rates for doctor’s emergency care. However, I wasn't able to find out about any specific criteria for what constitutes an emergency.  Rather, I would have to make the case for it being an emergency if some complications came up after the procedure and the case I make would be assessed on its merits.

Remember, each province’s health care rules are different, so I suggest other Canadians look on their province's health system web site to see if there is something there, or call their Medicare people.

In any case, the NB Medicare people strongly recommended that I get the private medical insurance (which will also only pay for emergency care), but I’m going to wait until I have dates for the procedure in Poland before I apply for the insurance.

Finally, while I can’t imagine why I would need extra care unless it was an emergency, and Dr. Simka seemed to imply that the Euromedic outfit he worked for would cover emergency care for something they directly caused, it must be stressed that if something DOES happen, the case for it being emergency care has to be made to both Medicare and the insurance company.

One other issue mentioned by the NB Medicare people, as an aside, was that it is reasonable to have confidence in the Polish health care system should an emergency arise.  My own experience with European health care (in Spain) is that a) it is good and b) they won't turn you away even if you can't prove that your health insurance will pay up.