Average house insurance in Canada?

Where to live : Canada or USa?

• My wife (puertorrican- american citizen), my little one (6 months old, canadian- american citizen) and I (canadian-argentinian citizen) live in Toronto, Canada. Since few month ago I was thinking what would be our life in USA. We have visited Houston, TX one year ago. I work as mechanical draftsperson (Autocad and Solidworks) my wife is administrative assistant, our english is good but not the best, we have spanish accent in our english. My wife has sicked cell anemia and we don't know how medical insurance will covers her in USA. Canada is very good country with universal medical insurance which covers my wife and my whole family. We are paying our modest house. I am thinking that maybe there are more opportunity in USA, since I want to change of work and there is not many opportunities right here. If we will move to USA we are going to do with legal papers. How are the opportunities in USA (Houston)? How is the economy? How are the medical insurance when you have a pre- existing condition like my wife has?

• Answer:

  Wow. That's complicated. The economy is probably no better here than it is in Canada. From what I understand, Toronto is very expensive, and you could surely find a cheaper place to live in the US than that. The cost of living in TX is fairly cheap as I understand it. I don't think your accents will matter as long as you can speak English, which obviously you can. There are lots of people in TX with Spanish accents. So no worries there. As far as the insurance, that would be a concern. If you could get a job with benefits, where they offer insurance, the way it works here is that your company pays part of the insurance premiums, and you pay part. It comes directly out of your paycheck right along with the taxes. You usually get to choose from different insurance plans, and making the choice of what's right for your family can be a difficult one. The plans that cover the most cost the most. If your company does offer insurance benefits, the pre-existing condition is usually covered under a group plan like that, but not always. You'd have to check into it first. Many companies do not offer insurance at all. If you'd have to pay for your own insurance plan, rather than being a part of a group plan offered by your job, then it will be very costly, and the likelihood of them covering pre-existing conditions is low. That being the case, for the medical issues alone, you may be better off staying in Canada. I don't know for sure, but I do know that healthcare here is extremely expensive. Good luck to you and your family in whatever decision you make.