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I think you’re underestimating how dire the healthcare situation is here. Weeks for a doctor’s appt, months/years for referrals and surgeries, people frequently dying in ERs after waiting 12+ hours without being seen. AND the way things are headed, it will soon get privatized and our outrageous taxes still won’t go down.
We’re shipping gas to the US and paying nearly double what you guys are for it ourselves. Housing costs? Double, easy. Groceries? Same.
As for non-union construction not making much.. I looked up labourer jobs in Watertown, NY since it’s close to her family in Ontario.. tons of openings paying the same or more than where I’m at.
We’re not grifters or gentrifiers, just a hardworking middle class couple that’s getting hung out to dry, and feels they could both benefit and contribute elsewhere.
I think you're massively overestimating US healthcare. We have all those things and more, plus if you use it you've got about a 70% shot of wiping out your life savings and having to declare bankruptcy.
You're picturing the flashy high tech hospitals you see on TV but the reality is very different and on a construction workers wages you're going to likely be using a community clinic for nearly everything. Insurance doesn't cover everything, and you end up paying out of pocket for anything but the absolute most common and minor issues. The fact you threw "$500 a month" out like a high number for medical care tells me you have a lot more research to do on that part of your plan.
Work in health care. Can confirm.
If you are looking down to rural NY and expecting decent health care you are in for a big surprise, especially in a place like Watertown.
Ontario's healthcare has its problems (only getting worse under Ford), but the rural Ontario hospitals are lightyears ahead of the rural NY hospitals. I've been to both and I'd pick a rural Ontario hospital any day.
Rural NY hospitals pay nothing to the staff, the near by residents can't pay their bills, the quality of life in rural NY is low and people with MDs are unlikely to want to work there, and the one I went to was disgustingly dirty. Wait times are longer in Canada, but I think a lot people think there are no wait times in the USA. There are. If you are poor you will spend all day in the ER of a shit hospital and even with decent insurance in a middle-class area, I was scheduled 2 months out for an MRI.
The rural Ontario hospital I went to 10 years ago was awesome and we got in to see the doctor in about 45 minutes. The one I went to on my own (potential knee injury), I had to wait about 3 hours which sucked, but I was pretty low priority.
Moreover, "benefits" means two very different things in the US and in Canada. For normal people, in the US, "benefits" mean the option to pay 250+ per person for the chance to pay 50 dollar co-pay per section of your doctor's appointment (i.e. if you think you have strep this is 50 for the consultation with the doctor and 50 for the lab fee to run the strep test). Dental and eye are luxury health benefits, and the idea of getting massages paid for is Google/Facebook/Intuit level of luxury. Benefits in Canada often means all sorts of amazing health benefits on top of healthcare.
L1 visa are not just for managers and executives. In the tech world, software developers get L1s all the time.
And, in my experience, the cost of food is way way way cheaper in Vancouver, BC than Seattle WA or anywhere else on the west coast of the US. Same for housing. Vancouver is expensive, but rent is nothing compared to Seattle. And, if you are looking down to rural NY from Ontario, rural NY might be cheaper, but you are basically signing up to live in Cornwall, ON. No economy and lots of meth issues. You don't need to leave Canada to find struggle town that is decaying.
Finally, as
@Sativa Lung points out. The 500 is just the cost to have insurance each month. There are wide range of co-pays on top of this. And a lot of things aren't covered. My mom doesn't get any of near retirement age older lady stuff covered by her insurance. A mammogram is well over $1500 and she pays 100% out of pocket despite being employed full-time with insurance. I've done the math, despite living in a low tax state, she would save money by moving to Canada cause healthcare is a huge drain. Not to mention all the Americans who have to file bankruptcy or lose their house over medical bills.
Canada needs to improve and reform its healthcare for sure, but as someone who has lived in both places, the idea that Americanizing the healthcare will improve is not something I view as a real solution. Canada needs to look at what the NHS once was not what the American system currently is when thinking of changes that need to be made.
Canadians are expected to live 6 years longer than Americans on average. There are cultural differences here, but I don't believe that healthcare plays no role in Canada having a significantly longer life expectancy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
Topic: US Work Visas (Read 697 times)