Re: M - long
- From: shenmei9wise@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:33:36 -0700 (PDT)
On Jul 17, 7:49 pm, "Kelly" <kelly...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi M,
Wanted to start a new thread about the housing etc. Not pushing BC but the
prices outside of Vancouver and Victoria are reasonable. In Victoria my son
and his wife have a basement suite that is above ground, nice and bright but
small with a bedroom that they have crammed all their king size bed etc into
and a second room with their 2 desks and computers, file cabinets etc.
Little kitchen and living room. This is 1100.00 a month with utilities and
security alarm included etc with bus just down the street - the reason it is
higher than most rent is the landlady allows them to have both their cats
(animals are always a problem with renting unfortunately). In Cowichan Bay
which is about an hour from downtown Victoria the rent for a house can be
about 1500 plus utilities when we were looking. My son is Vancouver has an
adult apartment which is $875.00 per month includes utilities but no
internet and basic cable. If outside of Vancouver it would cost less - he
is right on the transit route and 5 minutes bike ride from work.
Jobs right now in BC are plentiful for skilled people. The western
provinces aren't doing too bad - our forestry industry is suffering and so
are some communities struck with the pine needle damage in the forests but
construction, real estate, oil and gas and minerals are doing well. The
tourism is suffering a little but there are still lots of tourism jobs. In
our area there are lots of complementary medical people - accupuncture,
chiro, chinese medicine, massage, aromatherapists etc. Some areas are
covered by extended medical, some are not. I believe that some accupuncture
is actually covered by our medical system if you are in a low income. All
medical treatments are tax deductible if not covered.
Medical system. Okay yes we have a socialized system but only to a certain
level. In BC we pay monthly for basic medical unless your level of income
is low in which you may pay nothing or on a sliding scale. Pat and I pay
$95.00 a month. Many employers pay this for their employees. We are also
covered by pharmacare which is the pharmacy part of things. The deducible
for this is on a sliding scale and again depends on many things - income,
age. Because prices of meds are so high they have a reference based policy
as well (not every province in Canada is the same by the way - they are all
different in coverages and how much you pay). In Pat and my case because he
is quite high income we pay up to $5,000 a year and then the government pays
70% of all prescriptions after that and after $5,500 I think it is they pay
100%. This however is only for the reference based meds, or meds approved
by special authority because for some reason you can't take the reference
based ie: enbrel, certain bone density meds). The rituxan is still going
through approval by the government of BC for payment as they are assessing
whether it is considerably different, cost effective compared to others,
what the risks are. This will hopefully be decided this year before my next
rituxan treatment. It is not a perfect system but it is trying to keep it
affordable for everyone and for the system.
On top of this we pay $150.00 a month for the two of us for extended med and
dental plan. Unfortunately I have gone through my lifetime limit on the
pharmaceutical (it is smaller on conversion plan but the conversion plan
when my husband quit his job covered my RA so it still was a good deal.
When time for senior housing - both assisted and acute the cost is on a
sliding scale. Basically everyone will qualify.
Our taxes are higher than the US. Obviously someone pays for the welfare,
disability, Canada Pension, Seniors assistance, health care. It is
universal. Most people do have some savings as well as the government
pension they pay into to help with their senior years.
The Vancouver area and Vancouver Island are moderate in climate and although
we have maybe one snow fall a year it is usually gone by noon. This year
was rather unusual. Lots of hiking, camping, kayaking and water sports and
for people who really want to surf we have Tofino (where they surf in wet
suits in the winter storms - nuts!). The only desert is around Osoyoos
which is very mild weather (Osoyoos is in our Okanogan area - hot and dry
during the summer, moderate to cold in winters - our tourism area which is
also our wine area of the province - although we have 11 vineyards near our
home).
So if I sound like a chamber of Commerce Rep I am not really - I just
thought I would tell you how it works here. Carole - Bellingham compared to
Seattle rents are comparable to Vancouver to say Abbotsford. The further
from the main centre the rents go down. If you want to live in Prince
George right now (middle of the province - can you say snow in the winter)
you can pick up a nice house for about $150,000. Not sure how cheap Merritt
is.
Good luck - we are sure much cheaper than California and at the moment we
are not burning up. Yes we are still on the fault line but so far touch
wood have not had any major earthquake activity.
My pharmacist is also an accupuncturist and if you ever got to the serious
thinking stage I don't mind giving you her name and the pharmacy address if
you want - I dont' think Angela would mind.
Kelly
Thanks for that info Kelly. Vancouver is y favorite city probably in
the world It is clean. It is beautiful. It is filled with
Canadians!..I think that if I did move there, I would work almost
writing although I would also probably try to find a teaching job
(university of British Columbia has a gender studies center that is
very very well respected academically.)
I think the powers that be would be much more inclined to want me with
a job that paid salary as opposed to the self employment route and i
love teaching. I coudl afford to teach with my living expenses
knocked down to a reasonable level. I think I probably told you I
scored high on the emigration test even with a chronic illness (I
think the fact that I have never been on disability helped mitigate
the RA.
I am actually looking at housing in the Vancouver area. Who knows, it
might all come together. What is considered senior in BC?
m
.
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