Peony asked: Congratulations! But I'm curious -- comparing costs for health insurance? In Canada? I thought Canadians just had their provincial plans?
I have learned a lot in the past few days, I never had to work at this before ;-)
Yes we have basic health insurance. But it doesn't cover prescriptions drugs. It doesn't cover "extras" like physiotherapy. It doesn't do dental at all, at least not in Ontario (and Quebec except for young children). And ambulances. And, and, and. So basically public health coverage (which is not free, we all pay for it in our taxes) will keep you basically healthy, but the next step up in coverage is up to us. I had health coverage at work, now I have to make my own arrangements. But there are lots of options. I can go with my previous insurer now that I am retired, my old teachers' union has a group plan for retired members. I can go with my present insurer within 31 days. I can go with plans my university alumni organizations have set up (interestingly they are all the same, same company, lots of choices as to coverage, and that is also for alumni who are self-employed). I can go with Costco, they have insurance plans for members.
They are not as expensive as they would be in the US, but then the basic are already coming out of my taxes, so I have less after-tax money to pay for them - it all evens out.
Plus I want a bit of life insurance, just to make it easy for my executors to look after immediate bills. That will be cheap, female non-smoker rates are low.
