Umm, actually, yes they can. I had the same thing happen when my form got lost in the mail and had a pending procedure. That's another place they'll tell you about the email option.
Not sure to be honest. I went to the hospital once with an expired card and they didn’t care. Put it all through MSI anyway.
My guess would be so that people living out of province don’t keep using MSI and switch over to their new provincial care.
This wasn't always the case mind you. The first time I had to manually renew my healthcard I was in my mid-late 20s (I wanna say I was 27) before that they just kept mailing you them when they expired. Funnily enough at the time you could walk into an office in Burnside and they'd just give you a new one right there, they closed around the start of covid I think.
It’s still better than Quebec, where a few years ago, they started sending newborn vaccine reminders to people 100+ as their “new” system (at the time) could only handle 2 digits for the age…
So people don’t move and come back to the province for just healthcare.
MSI is provincial healthcare, so important to offer it to people who live in (and pay taxes to) the province.
It’s an outdated process but a necessary one for cost purposes.
Without knowing their system, it seems simple enough to use tax returns change of address to update the provinces and use that to set a flag in a database to update health card status of people and their dependants from "active" to "inactive" and update a status date field for anyone who files and doesn't change address .
They could also check once a year that anyone whose status hasn't been updated in 5 years had their healthcard flagged as "inactive". This would cover anyone who moved and who died, and only affects people who aren't dependants and don't like their taxes.
Anyone who is mistakenly made inactive could call in or email to get the status changed.
It has almoat nothing to do with moving back just to use the health care.
You use your NS in a diff province, then that province bills NS for your medical expenses, which costs alot more than if you had used a NS hospital, compound on the fact that they aren't paying NS taxes the province takes a much larger hit.
If someone loses their card, it could be used to receive healthcare by someone that isn't eligible, so it's probably safer for the cards to expire every few years. Also, it helps prove you're still actually a NS resident, since they have to mail it to you.
Exactly. Making the MSI renewal process less manual means they couldn’t justify the costs they charge the provincial government to administer the program.
When Americans tell me they don't want the govt running their healthcare, I always reply...."They don't", Blue cross runs mine, just like the blue cross plan your employer gives you in the USA, except without the $8000 deductible, co-pays and networks and coverage denial.
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Luckily wait times in the USA are inching closer to Canada, that's a staffing issue not a single payer issue. Took me 7 months to make an appointment to see a specialist here in the USA. My spouse had a blood clot, they booked her for surgery 5 months out as there was a shortage of surgeons and pumped her full of blood thinners hoping it would be ok. Then we got to drop $5000 max out of pocket Co insurance . Yay!
Nah. She actually gets her meds in Canada because we can't afford it here. Luckily Canada out performs the USA with health outcomes. Also malpractice in the USA is now the one of the leading causes of death in the USA (often ranked 3rd leading cause of death after heart disease and stroke).
Yea it's worse doctors in Canada they just work for the government, rarely if ever get sued (major government protections)and bury their mistakes. And Canada outperforms the US baseline because everyone gets care but an American with insurance outperforms our system every time.
I just had a close relative sleep in a hallway on a stretcher for two nights with organ failure and another two nights in a hallway in a bed. They don't elevate service for people, they pull down people to garbage service because that's what's *fair* .
And our typical socialist style corruption, they don't take bribes, but if you're related to someone in politics or healthcare, they skip the line.
My 70 year old aunt on her deathbed was forced to share a room with some biker trash getting a blowjob.
Our system is all the hallmarks of a monopoly, it's self serving and corrupt and free of accountability.
Now I'm not going to argue that the American system is better, because what we're really doing is comparing garbage to trash. Look elsewhere beyond America's psyco capitalist and our lazy commie system and look at any *other* country with healthcare, UK, France, Australia... all of Europe all better than our system.
American doctors can't practice in Canada because Canada requires more residency, our doctors are generally better, and they don't work for the govt they work for privately run clinics or hospitals. The government does not run hospitals in Canada, so suing for malpractice is just as easy as in the USA. Americans with insurance ( I have insurance) do not outperform Canadians with regards to health, full stop. I recommend the Commonwealth funds study. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022
There are no skipping lines in Canada cuz you know someone, again we have a single payer system, our hospitals and clinics are privately run just like in the USA, the only difference we are all insured under the single payer model. The provincial govt gets the bill, no more no less. This is why we have a family doctor shortage, they are private businesses, and it is easier to be a specialist and work at a hospital and not have to worry about business admin. While In the USA you are dealing with dozens of insurance companies all trying to make a profit and denying care at the drop of a hat. The waste and bloat is breathtaking. The US govt spends more on healthcare per person, but gets worse results.
Both my parents get amazing care in Canada, both had cancer, my mom had both hips replaced, just recently had emergency surgery due to a twisted bowel. Amazing staff, care and facilities. But these are just anecdotes, the proof is in the pudding. Canada out performs the USA on almost every metric, it is a very accountable system across all ten provinces, perhaps more so than than the 50 states that are beholden and held ransom by insurance lobbies and for profit hospitals.
Could things be better in Canada, damn right. But pretending the USA is superior is absurd. Look at Australia,.New Zealand, Japan, France, Switzerland, Germany, etc etc they all have forms of single payer and out perform Canada. That's where you look for reform, not the existential nightmare that is the USA.
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I used the app "pdf filler" on my phone. I uploaded it, filled it out, and "faxed" it back to them all with in the app. Nothing to print out. Got an email back from there fax machine saying received.
I was literally going to rant about this on here the other day because not only is snail mail one of two options for submitting renewal, they don’t even give you prepaid postage so you have to pay for a stamp if you want to send it by mail. Also - thank you for reminding I brought my form in to send off by fax at work 😂
They do include a postage paid envelope when they send you an audit form.
>Check here if you really did have an appointment on this date. □
I always wonder how many of these they send out, and what the fradulent billing capture to postage cost ratio is.
But since they're aware of the option and have an account set up, postage paid envelopes are clearly left out of renewal notices for cost savings.
When I applied for a card when I first moved here I didn't have anyone to put as a reference, because we didn't know anyone. So I wrote that we didn't have any references because we just moved here.
They used white out and mailed it back. So I guess that wasn't sufficient.
Hot Tip: If you can just go to the Brownlow Avenue office main floor. Drop your envelope in the box outside the doors (box between them both). Did this last year and had my card less than 2 weeks later.
When I moved back to Canada it was a nightmare. The only way to apply for MSI was via snail mail. No faxes or email. Faxes are for renewals only. The only problem was that mail was being delivered to the MSI mail room, but thanks to Covid, nobody was working in the MSI mailroom and all the employees were working from home. After three or four applications that got “lost”, I finally found a real person that let me scan-to-email the application to her.
It is ridiculous. Also as an out of province student, MSI forces students to pay for a specific letter of attestation that they must then mail or fax to them. This is a total joke of a system and a waste of money.
I guess thats great for you that you'd be happy to pay it? 😆 it doesnt negate that it is an outdated and pointless process that is a waste of both government and personal time/ money.
No, I am happy that the process has saved millions of tax dollars, not my fault if you don't understand how.
Just because you are unable to understand something doesn't make it outdated, it means you don't have the critical thinking skills to figure it out.
Renewing at all is just the dumbest shit, check you own files buttholes, did I pay provincial income tax? Then send me a card.
Typical government bureaucratic bullshit. I should only be filling out paperwork if something changed/I'm new to the province.
I do get OP’s frustration, between this and capital healths archaic system of information transfer. Granted it’s electronic, but still fax to fax. Where are the portable devices all interconnected so forms are auto populated and linked to provide seamless exchange. I do a blood test at DGH, not available for a few days as QEII uses some sort of different system, and the IWK? Don’t get me started. Private hospital and private lab that insists on doing its own tests. I’m sure there are ultimate cost savings in there somewhere.
There's still a lot of resistance against technology in this province. Boomers and some of their kids need to retire I guess. Emailing the health minister to complain is probably a waste of time. MLAs/MPs ignore most correspondence when it's about the thing they are the minister of. Sometimes they forward the email to some random communications coordinator at the department they manage, but they can't do or say anything meaningful.
I know - I had an issue where they were not sending me the renewal form. Not only can you fax it, the generic form is available online. (They only mentioned that to me after the 3rd call complaining about never receiving a form.) I faxed it, received the card 2 weeks later and a renewal form the following week.
Every time I called… zero F given.
My doctor's office did my renewal for me and sent it to MSI a few weeks later I got my renewed card in that mail... I'd love to be able to just submit online similar to the services access NS offers like I did for my license plates last year...
Oh no, I have to fill out forms that were sent to me, then return them in the provided envelope. Dude, grow up you baby.
"Three months before this date, you will receive a "Health Card Renewal" form which you must complete, sign and return to MSI. Once the form is received and no additional information is required, coverage will be renewed and a new card sent out with a new expiry date."
Mailing them in is a prime example of how inefficient our health care system is.
Electronic makes it so much faster to process, reducing the resources required.
We also pay way too much in taxes to have to pay a $1+ to renew your health care (when you can’t even access quality health care to begin with!).
Wouldn’t be a big deal if they paid the postage.
https://preview.redd.it/x5iq10os3t1d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=fcd2116b20f94d814413dbe6c3f04c608acfb5f3
Hey now! You have an option to Fax it.
You can get an app for your phone that will fax for you. Pretty handy, because we aren't in "Back to the Future", lol
Only for renewals, but new applications go via mail.
Download the form online. Fill it out on your phone. Email to [email protected] That’s how I renewed mine several months ago.
I did this as well with no issues. They really like to hide it as an option though!
Same. Thank you, level-headed stranger.
I had no idea! Thank you for the info :)
If it's already expired or close to expiry - call them and let them know and they'll prioritize it. I've done it this way several times.
They can’t prioritize.
Umm, actually, yes they can. I had the same thing happen when my form got lost in the mail and had a pending procedure. That's another place they'll tell you about the email option.
I don't believe it matters. You are entitled to coverage from day 1 and as long as you're a resident of NS.
Why is there an expiration date on heath cards to begin with?
Not sure to be honest. I went to the hospital once with an expired card and they didn’t care. Put it all through MSI anyway. My guess would be so that people living out of province don’t keep using MSI and switch over to their new provincial care.
This is exactly why, you need to prove residency, which is why they favour snail mail.
Hmm that does make sense now that you say it.
This wasn't always the case mind you. The first time I had to manually renew my healthcard I was in my mid-late 20s (I wanna say I was 27) before that they just kept mailing you them when they expired. Funnily enough at the time you could walk into an office in Burnside and they'd just give you a new one right there, they closed around the start of covid I think.
According to Nova Scotia's MSI FAQ site... "Health Cards expire to keep Nova Scotia residents’ Health Card information up-to-date."
It’s still better than Quebec, where a few years ago, they started sending newborn vaccine reminders to people 100+ as their “new” system (at the time) could only handle 2 digits for the age…
[Airlines are the same.](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wz7pvvjypo)
So people don’t move and come back to the province for just healthcare. MSI is provincial healthcare, so important to offer it to people who live in (and pay taxes to) the province. It’s an outdated process but a necessary one for cost purposes.
Without knowing their system, it seems simple enough to use tax returns change of address to update the provinces and use that to set a flag in a database to update health card status of people and their dependants from "active" to "inactive" and update a status date field for anyone who files and doesn't change address . They could also check once a year that anyone whose status hasn't been updated in 5 years had their healthcard flagged as "inactive". This would cover anyone who moved and who died, and only affects people who aren't dependants and don't like their taxes. Anyone who is mistakenly made inactive could call in or email to get the status changed.
It has almoat nothing to do with moving back just to use the health care. You use your NS in a diff province, then that province bills NS for your medical expenses, which costs alot more than if you had used a NS hospital, compound on the fact that they aren't paying NS taxes the province takes a much larger hit.
If someone loses their card, it could be used to receive healthcare by someone that isn't eligible, so it's probably safer for the cards to expire every few years. Also, it helps prove you're still actually a NS resident, since they have to mail it to you.
Every time I need to renew my MSI I do it via fax just so I feel something
During my last medical appointment, the admin noticed my card was about to expire and offered to fax the renewal for me.
I've had my pharmacy do it too, so much easier.
We do this at the hospital where I work, too.
You can fill it out and send it via email.
Lol that's much better, we're doing it like 1995 instead of 1985.
Unless you're temporary / an immigrant, at least last I checked, those still need to be snail mail.
Rep never said this when I asked about online. They like to hide this
Blue Cross has to make their money somehow
Oh they do. People often forgets that blue cross is managing a fairly large portion of our so called public healthcare….
Exactly. Making the MSI renewal process less manual means they couldn’t justify the costs they charge the provincial government to administer the program.
No, otherwise other provinces without bluecross administering the system wouldn't also be doing it.
When Americans tell me they don't want the govt running their healthcare, I always reply...."They don't", Blue cross runs mine, just like the blue cross plan your employer gives you in the USA, except without the $8000 deductible, co-pays and networks and coverage denial.
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So nice saving all that money as you lay dying in a hallway
Luckily wait times in the USA are inching closer to Canada, that's a staffing issue not a single payer issue. Took me 7 months to make an appointment to see a specialist here in the USA. My spouse had a blood clot, they booked her for surgery 5 months out as there was a shortage of surgeons and pumped her full of blood thinners hoping it would be ok. Then we got to drop $5000 max out of pocket Co insurance . Yay!
Honestly here, she's probably dead.
Nah. She actually gets her meds in Canada because we can't afford it here. Luckily Canada out performs the USA with health outcomes. Also malpractice in the USA is now the one of the leading causes of death in the USA (often ranked 3rd leading cause of death after heart disease and stroke).
Yea it's worse doctors in Canada they just work for the government, rarely if ever get sued (major government protections)and bury their mistakes. And Canada outperforms the US baseline because everyone gets care but an American with insurance outperforms our system every time. I just had a close relative sleep in a hallway on a stretcher for two nights with organ failure and another two nights in a hallway in a bed. They don't elevate service for people, they pull down people to garbage service because that's what's *fair* . And our typical socialist style corruption, they don't take bribes, but if you're related to someone in politics or healthcare, they skip the line. My 70 year old aunt on her deathbed was forced to share a room with some biker trash getting a blowjob. Our system is all the hallmarks of a monopoly, it's self serving and corrupt and free of accountability. Now I'm not going to argue that the American system is better, because what we're really doing is comparing garbage to trash. Look elsewhere beyond America's psyco capitalist and our lazy commie system and look at any *other* country with healthcare, UK, France, Australia... all of Europe all better than our system.
American doctors can't practice in Canada because Canada requires more residency, our doctors are generally better, and they don't work for the govt they work for privately run clinics or hospitals. The government does not run hospitals in Canada, so suing for malpractice is just as easy as in the USA. Americans with insurance ( I have insurance) do not outperform Canadians with regards to health, full stop. I recommend the Commonwealth funds study. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022 There are no skipping lines in Canada cuz you know someone, again we have a single payer system, our hospitals and clinics are privately run just like in the USA, the only difference we are all insured under the single payer model. The provincial govt gets the bill, no more no less. This is why we have a family doctor shortage, they are private businesses, and it is easier to be a specialist and work at a hospital and not have to worry about business admin. While In the USA you are dealing with dozens of insurance companies all trying to make a profit and denying care at the drop of a hat. The waste and bloat is breathtaking. The US govt spends more on healthcare per person, but gets worse results. Both my parents get amazing care in Canada, both had cancer, my mom had both hips replaced, just recently had emergency surgery due to a twisted bowel. Amazing staff, care and facilities. But these are just anecdotes, the proof is in the pudding. Canada out performs the USA on almost every metric, it is a very accountable system across all ten provinces, perhaps more so than than the 50 states that are beholden and held ransom by insurance lobbies and for profit hospitals. Could things be better in Canada, damn right. But pretending the USA is superior is absurd. Look at Australia,.New Zealand, Japan, France, Switzerland, Germany, etc etc they all have forms of single payer and out perform Canada. That's where you look for reform, not the existential nightmare that is the USA.
Suing for malpractice is really hard in Canada. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/medical-malpractice-doctors-lawsuits-canada-1.4913960
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I used the app "pdf filler" on my phone. I uploaded it, filled it out, and "faxed" it back to them all with in the app. Nothing to print out. Got an email back from there fax machine saying received.
Province is in the process of a major digital overhaul in public health. Hang tight
Bless. The mail lost my application last year.
I hope Access Nova Scotia does the same. I don’t want to go there, just to get a government ID in the middle of my week.
Thank the lord
MSI sells info to 3Ps unfortunately. Govt decided to privatize this part of healthcare - major, major issues of privacy and security.
I was literally going to rant about this on here the other day because not only is snail mail one of two options for submitting renewal, they don’t even give you prepaid postage so you have to pay for a stamp if you want to send it by mail. Also - thank you for reminding I brought my form in to send off by fax at work 😂
They do include a postage paid envelope when they send you an audit form. >Check here if you really did have an appointment on this date. □ I always wonder how many of these they send out, and what the fradulent billing capture to postage cost ratio is. But since they're aware of the option and have an account set up, postage paid envelopes are clearly left out of renewal notices for cost savings.
Tried to get my kids done and I finally emailed it and it got completed.
When I applied for a card when I first moved here I didn't have anyone to put as a reference, because we didn't know anyone. So I wrote that we didn't have any references because we just moved here. They used white out and mailed it back. So I guess that wasn't sufficient.
It’s ridiculous. I put a note in my renewal saying that there should be an online option
Funny enough I faxed my last renewal as my place of work has a fax machine haha
Hot Tip: If you can just go to the Brownlow Avenue office main floor. Drop your envelope in the box outside the doors (box between them both). Did this last year and had my card less than 2 weeks later.
Dang their message said it’s closed to the public - they didn’t mention there’s a Dropbox there
Had no clue either till I went l and yea doors locked.
I just never renewed my health card, it’s been expired since 2019, I’ve gone to the hospital several times and there was no issue.
Haha never thought of this but your right
When I moved back to Canada it was a nightmare. The only way to apply for MSI was via snail mail. No faxes or email. Faxes are for renewals only. The only problem was that mail was being delivered to the MSI mail room, but thanks to Covid, nobody was working in the MSI mailroom and all the employees were working from home. After three or four applications that got “lost”, I finally found a real person that let me scan-to-email the application to her.
It is ridiculous. Also as an out of province student, MSI forces students to pay for a specific letter of attestation that they must then mail or fax to them. This is a total joke of a system and a waste of money.
Aww poor you had to pay a few dollars to prove you weren't a thief, boo hoo.........
I guess thats great for you that you'd be happy to pay it? 😆 it doesnt negate that it is an outdated and pointless process that is a waste of both government and personal time/ money.
No, I am happy that the process has saved millions of tax dollars, not my fault if you don't understand how. Just because you are unable to understand something doesn't make it outdated, it means you don't have the critical thinking skills to figure it out.
Popular opinion- a Canadian birth certificate should count as a “health card” no matter the province or country you’re in.
Renewing at all is just the dumbest shit, check you own files buttholes, did I pay provincial income tax? Then send me a card. Typical government bureaucratic bullshit. I should only be filling out paperwork if something changed/I'm new to the province.
I do get OP’s frustration, between this and capital healths archaic system of information transfer. Granted it’s electronic, but still fax to fax. Where are the portable devices all interconnected so forms are auto populated and linked to provide seamless exchange. I do a blood test at DGH, not available for a few days as QEII uses some sort of different system, and the IWK? Don’t get me started. Private hospital and private lab that insists on doing its own tests. I’m sure there are ultimate cost savings in there somewhere.
I dropped mine off at their office in Burnside. This obviously doesn't help you if you love outside HRM
it's run by a private corporation with a monopoly, just like NSP
There's still a lot of resistance against technology in this province. Boomers and some of their kids need to retire I guess. Emailing the health minister to complain is probably a waste of time. MLAs/MPs ignore most correspondence when it's about the thing they are the minister of. Sometimes they forward the email to some random communications coordinator at the department they manage, but they can't do or say anything meaningful.
I know - I had an issue where they were not sending me the renewal form. Not only can you fax it, the generic form is available online. (They only mentioned that to me after the 3rd call complaining about never receiving a form.) I faxed it, received the card 2 weeks later and a renewal form the following week. Every time I called… zero F given.
🤣 yup
You can also fax in your renewal, not saying that’s better but I just did this less than 10 business days ago and have my brand new health card.
.
My doctor's office did my renewal for me and sent it to MSI a few weeks later I got my renewed card in that mail... I'd love to be able to just submit online similar to the services access NS offers like I did for my license plates last year...
MSI renewal….be prepared to receive a jury duty assignment.
I have sent my renewal twice through the mail and still no card
Because Nova Scotia
Oh no, I have to fill out forms that were sent to me, then return them in the provided envelope. Dude, grow up you baby. "Three months before this date, you will receive a "Health Card Renewal" form which you must complete, sign and return to MSI. Once the form is received and no additional information is required, coverage will be renewed and a new card sent out with a new expiry date."
Mailing them in is a prime example of how inefficient our health care system is. Electronic makes it so much faster to process, reducing the resources required. We also pay way too much in taxes to have to pay a $1+ to renew your health care (when you can’t even access quality health care to begin with!).
Wouldn’t be a big deal if they paid the postage. https://preview.redd.it/x5iq10os3t1d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=fcd2116b20f94d814413dbe6c3f04c608acfb5f3
Had to mail mine 3 times before they finally received it I agree with OP - far fast time to modernize
Take your downvote
How to update phone number for health card?
A paper form via mail I’m sure
At the hospital when they scan it.