New immigrant question

[maua]

Hello good people,

I have a question for a couple that just landed three weeks ago. They have just found out that they are expecting. They live in Toronto and do not qualify for public health benefits yet. What can she do to obtain prenatal care?

[Leon]

What can she do to obtain prenatal care?

Pay.

Actually, some provinces offer exceptions to the waiting time for pregnant women but I don't think Ontario is one of them.  She can surely ask.

[maua]

Thank you for your response, Leon. You're right Ontario is quite strict about their public health benefits. She will have to wait a couple of months before qualifying. We did however find some centers that provide prenatal care to teenagers, single-mothers, low income people and new immigrants.

You mentioned paying - yeah - about that. I don't know why they were in such a hurry to leave the States before obtaining a job first. The husband hasn't found work yet. I think he should have left his wife behind until he was a little established. She had a job in the States that provided health care. Of course they hadn't found out about the pregnancy yet. Still, I think that would have saved them the trouble.

[Leon]

She might as well do the waiting time now while it's still early days and be covered by the time the baby is born.  If she would have stayed in the US to use her coverage there, she would have had to wait until the baby was born to get it all covered.

[jes_ON]

Two places to try:

http://www.toronto.ca/health/healthybabieshealthychildren/parentscaregivers.htm

http://www.settlement.org/sys/faqs_detail.asp?k=PUBHEALTH_LOWCOST&faq_id=4001221