Can I Find a Doctor in Kelowna?

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, I grew up in BC, Prince George actually.

I left the province when I was 23 and moved to Alberta in 1998, really the only health care system I have known in my adult life was based in Alberta.

So when we moved our family to Kelowna in 2021, I really had not frame of reference to go off of. It was like I was a brand new resident in the province I spent 1/2 my life in.

We had to secure health care, a new dentist, an orthodontist for our kids, a new doctor for the famiy and we had to look at insurance options as well as both of us are self employed.

It was a lot of work and took a lot of organizing, so with all of these blog posts, I am going to take you through our experiences in the hopes that it helps you during your transiton to Kelowna.

What is Insurance Like in BC?

Coming from Alberta there was really only one insurance provider that we knew about in Blue Cross.

When we got here, we looked online for a Blue Cross equivalent and found one...litlte did we know that it wasn't the ONLY insurance provider.

There are multiple Blue Cross companies in BC all providing varying levels of insurance and customer service.

If you're an entrepreneur and require additional insurance when coming to BC, just do a quick google search for Health Care Insurance Providers in BC and you'll get a variety of options.

The MSP or Medical Services Plan in BC

Just like all other provinces in Canada, BC has a medical services plan and covers off some basic health care providers, in fact this is right from the government website:

"These include medically necessary services provided by physicians and midwives, dental and oral surgery performed in a hospital, eye examinations if medically required and some orthodontic services."

The MSP does not require premiums, they were done away with back on January 1st of 2020. Just keep in mind that if you want dental coverage among other things, you will need additional insurance.

How to Find Doctors and Dentists in Kelowna

This was tough for us, anyone you talk to here in Kelowna will tell you that every doctor has a wait list and it could take up to 2 years for you to be accepted as a patient.

This was hard for us to accept considering we had the same family doctor for close to 2 decades in Alberta.

We were directed towards the DivisionsBC website to help find a doctor but that's where we found a lot of frustration. Once you get on a list, you are on the list and you have to formally request to be removed if you wind up finding your own doctor.

We did a google search (again) and wound up finding a practice that was accepting new clients. Finding a dentist was far easier to do, we looked for recommendations through our neighbourhood Facebook group and had a couple of conversations with the providers.

We selected one that was close to our home and one that we had the best rapport with. 

Making a move across provinces seems like an easy thing to do from the outside looking in, and certainly if you are single or you are in a realtionship with no kids, it is going to be a little easier.

If I can help to make your transition to Kelowna a little more smooth, feel free to reach out to me with any questions that you may have by clicking this contact me link. I will get back to you right away with whatever answers I have!