Out of Province

I can't be a resident of Quebec until I've not been a student here for 1 full year. This means I don't get a Quebec health card. Manitoba is happy to provide me with an out of province health coverage but Quebec is the only province in Canada who doesn't accept health plans from out of province. So, this means I get treated like a second class citizen and I have to pay exorbitant prices in cash for every medical service I require.

This wouldn't be so bad if doctors charged me the same amount that they bill the Quebec government for local residents... They can charge me whatever they want, because I'm treated as an international. For example, a doctor charges 35$ to the province for every patient they see, but the minute they realize I'm "out of province" I have to pay 90$ cash. When I send the bill to Manitoba health, they say "sorry we can only pay the standard fee of 35$", so I'm out 45$ per visit.

Blood tests, scans, medication, anything like this I have to pay cash. The amounts charged by each clinic is random. Some charge 50, others 80... Doctors make up prices for things on the spot!. Also, sometimes MB health won't cover something... For example, I had to get a fancy antibiotic last year because I had a reaction to the normal one. It was synthetic so it cost more. MB health said "we don't cover that antibiotic when prescribed out of province"... So guess who was stuck with the bill...

This whole situation would be fixed if doctors did the following things.

1. Charged Canadians the same prices as they charge their Quebec patients.
2. Tell patients which medications won't be covered by their provincial health plan. In soon to be the year 2008, having access to information shouldn't be an issue.