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 MSI
(Medical Services Insurance)
Health
Care in Nova Scotia
Like all other
provinces in Canada, Nova Scotia - with the assistance of the federal
government - provides a publicly-funded health services program. The
Nova Scotia plan, called MSI (Medical Services Insurance) insures
eligible residents of Nova Scotia for all medically required
physicians' services provided in the doctor's office, at home or in
hospital. All necessary surgical services are insured, including the
services of anaesthetists and surgical assistants where necessary, as
well as obstetrical care, the treatment of fractures and
dislocations, referred specialist services and all diagnostic
services. MSI also insures certain dental-surgical procedures
performed in a hospital.
In the Nova
Scotia system, patients select their own family physician (usually
called a general practitioner). If in the course of a treatment a
visit to a specialist is required, that appointment is made by one's
family doctor, not by the patient directly. The same applies to
admissions to hospital, visits to clinics for various types of lab
tests, X-rays, physiotherapy, etc.
Private
medical plans (such as Blue Cross) are available to supplement the
provincial plan both for hospital care and extended health services.
Landed
immigrants or Canadians returning from living outside Canada who
establish permanent residence in Nova Scotia become eligible on the
day they become a resident of the province. A Canadian citizen or a
landed immigrant from inside Canada is eligible for MSI on the first
day of the third month he/she became a resident of Nova Scotia. (This
is because they continue to be covered during their transition by the
province where they were living.) People on a work permit can usually
apply for MSI on the first day of the seventh month of residence as a
worker and coverage will be backdated to the date of arrival.
International students are eligible to apply the first day of the
thirteenth month following their date of arrival as students,
providing they have not been absent for more than 31 consecutive days.
For more
information on Nova Scotia's MSI Program, call (902) 468-9700.
Nova Scotia
has an optional prescription drug insurance plan for seniors. This
program, called the Nova Scotia Seniors' Pharmacare Program, is
available to residents of Nova Scotia who are registered under the
MSI program, are 65 years of age or over and are not covered under
another drug plan. Participants in the program who do not receive a
Guaranteed Income Supplement pay a yearly premium of $336.
Participants must also pay 33 per cent of the cost of each
prescription (or at least $3), but no more than $350 a year. Once the
senior has paid their pharmacy $350 in co-payments in a given year,
Pharmacare pays 100 per cent of further eligible drugs for the
remainder of the year. Seniors may pay more than the $350 yearly
co-pay maximum in cases where the drug is not covered by Pharmacare;
the senior wants a more expensive brand of drug than the generic
brand; or the brand of drug the senior wants costs more than the
maximum cost paid by Pharmacare.
For more
information on Pharmacare, call (902) 429-6565 or (800) 544-6191.
For more
information, visit the Nova Scotia Department of Health web site at www.gov.ns.ca/health.
Copyright ©
2002, Province of Nova Scotia,
all rights reserved. |
