Costs of Giving Birth in Canada - Permanent Resident (Health Card)

[craunchi]

   My wife is expecting and most probabely will give birth in Mississauge. Can someone who went through the same process advice about the expected costs and procedures, experience. My wife has a valid Health Card.

[Leon]

If she has a valid health card, she shouldn't have to pay for anything.  Just if you happen to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital rather than go in your own car, then you will have to pay for the ambulance. 

[shekhawatmx]

normal delivery 5 to 8 k CAD C section 10 to 12 k CAD with 2-3 days hospital stay.
above amount does nt include and complications and bill can be very high in that case.

if u have OHIP then its free except for semi or private room charges.

[cjava22]

Hi, agood day to you all. Me and my wife would like to ask you guys for advice regarding our situation. We landed in 2009 and got our PR card but been in and out of canada since then. We never stayed long enough to get a health card in toronto where we initially landed and stayed. Now my wife is pregnant and expecting to deliver in June and we are currently staying outside Canada since 2010. Is there a way to get the health card and its benefits if she give birth in Canada without the 3 months waiting period. Thank you in advance.

[Leon]

Is there a way to get the health card and its benefits if she give birth in Canada without the 3 months waiting period.

Not if you are planning on living in Toronto.  They make no exceptions to the 3 month waiting period.  Even if you had at some point stayed for 3 months and applied for your health cards, you would have lost your coverage again being outside Canada that much.  OHIP makes it a requirement that you stay for at least 5 of the first 6 months as you qualify to get your OHIP and after that at least 6 months a year.

If you were to move to another province, not BC or NB either and not Ontario, the health care there might consider that you never actually settled in ON and may treat your move as an international move and give you first day coverage.  However, all health care systems in Canada require living in the province for 6 months a year to be eligible for their health care so if you leave after less than 6 months, they may decide that you never should have been eligible in the first place and you may get backcharged for the services you received.

Quebec does have a 3 month waiting period but makes exceptions for pregnant women.  However, I have also heard of a case where a PR family was refused coverage for the birth of their 2nd child in Quebec as they had not stayed in Quebec after their first child had been born there.

[cjava22]

Thanks for the reply and usefull info. Leon. You have mentioned that other province offer coverage on the first day, can you please tell us which province are these? Thank you again.

[Leon]

Thanks for the reply and usefull info. Leon. You have mentioned that other province offer coverage on the first day, can you please tell us which province are these? Thank you again.

Just to clarify, that is coverage on the first day if you are moving from another country.  If you move within Canada, you would still have to do a 3 month waiting period but if you have a health card from the other province already, they would cover you for 3 months in the new province until you get a health card there.

Provinces with first day coverage are as far as I know all of them except Ontario, BC, NB (they were talking about changing it) and Quebec (which has exceptions for pregnant women though).  However, if you are thinking about some province in particular, you might want to contact their health care and make sure that 1st day coverage applies.

[walter8299]

normal delivery 5 to 8 k CAD C section 10 to 12 k CAD with 2-3 days hospital stay.
above amount does nt include and complications and bill can be very high in that case.

if u have OHIP then its free except for semi or private room charges.

does the fee include the doctor fees and staying overnight for 24 hrs (let say it is a normal delivery with no complications).?

we already pay the obs doctor $5000, does that mean we already paid the doctor portion of the fee?
i have read somewhere it is along the line of $1000 per night which includes the delivery/labour room when the baby comes.

any more insights into this?

[Janna3D]

Just fyi- I had a very complex emergency c-section which required bringing in the head of obstetrics to perform the surgery. People on immigration forums(not this one!) scared me with quotes of up to $20k!!! But the total was only $8800 for everything and mine was a complex surgery! I had a friend give regular birth at the same hospital and it was $4500. She opted for anesthesia, but if your wife opts for natural birth, the cost should only be about $2500.

[Leon]

Just fyi- I had a very complex emergency c-section which required bringing in the head of obstetrics to perform the surgery. People on immigration forums(not this one!) scared me with quotes of up to $20k!!! But the total was only $8800 for everything and mine was a complex surgery! I had a friend give regular birth at the same hospital and it was $4500. She opted for anesthesia, but if your wife opts for natural birth, the cost should only be about $2500.

Which province was that and which hospital?  Maybe it could help somebody else to know that.

I have heard of costs between 5 and 10,000 to be common but I have also heard of cases where they went over 20.  I guess it depends on if there are complications afterwards.

[Janna3D]

Which province was that and which hospital?  Maybe it could help somebody else to know that.

I have heard of costs between 5 and 10,000 to be common but I have also heard of cases where they went over 20.  I guess it depends on if there are complications afterwards.

It was Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ontario. They were awesome btw, amazing team of doctors and nurses who treated me well. Should anyone choose this hospital, make sure you tell the administratirs that your spouse is Canadian. They have discounted fees for people like us.