Pregnant without health care living in Montreal

[glitter]

Hi,
I'm from Mexico and been living in Montreal with my soon-to-be husband for over a year. I'm currently out of status right now.

On March we sent an application inland for sponsorship for common-law. We're getting civily married in June.
I'm 5 months pregnant! My due date is on August 25th. I want to know if I qualify for any health care card or medical insurance in Quebec. My fiance is a Canadian citizen.

Is there a way for me to be insured after we get married on June? Even though I'm waiting for my PR? I've been to the doctor for checkups and blood tests... and everything is going great respecting to the baby health's and mine, but it's costing us a lot of money already since we have to pay Cash every time we have an appointment and every time I have to get a lab test. We went to the hospital and ask for the cost of having a child without Medicare, and overall (the 1 day hospital stay + the Doctor's fee) it's gonna cost us 10,000 dlls.

It's A LOT of money to pay for something as simple and natural as giving birth.

Please, we need all the help, suggestions or recomendations.

thanks.

[Leon]

Birth being simple and natural, maybe you should look for a midwife and plan a home birth.  You will only have to go to the hospital if something goes wrong so if nothing goes wrong, you might save bundles of cash.  As for getting out of status, there was no reason you had to do that.  You could have applied to extend (or change conditions to) visit status.  You should have sent a restoration of status application with your inland in any case.  Being out of status may delay your application.  If you are lucky, you might get first stage approval just before the baby is born and would then probably be covered under Quebec health care right away for pregnancy and childbirth related expenses.  That is if you are lucky.  My advice, talk to Quebec health about your options.  Good luck.

[Vesiolay]

Hi

I'm in very similar situation right now...
I already passed mediacl exames for PR and just waiting for papers. I got pregnant and do not have any medical insurance.
Can you advise which doctor I can see for the tests and examinations without medical insurance?
Thank you in advance.

[Leon]

You can see any doctor you like but without insurance, you have to pay.  Try asking at different places to find out how much you will have to pay.  I had a doctor in Toronto while I was waiting to get on OHIP that never charged me very much, just for costs.  Some clinics will charge you a lot when you don't have insurance.

[Leon]

To see a doctor you have to visit Walk in Clinic - check in on Google in your area.
But you have to buy private medical insurance plan anyway.
You can buy private medical insurance plan online here

It is not mandatory to have a private medical insurance plan for anybody in Canada.  It would be a good idea for anybody to have a minimal emergency insurance in case they get hit by a car or something but for a pregnant woman to buy expensive insurance that will not cover her pregnancy because it's pre-existing would not make any sense.

You do not have to necessarily go to a walk in clinic to see a doctor.  You can ask people you know which doctor they are going to and contact their office to see if they are taking new patients but you will still have to pay.  Seeing a regular doctor who has a small practice and doesn't get a lot of people who are without insurance could be less expensive for you than going to a walk-in.  The walk-ins are prepared for people who don't have insurance so they already have their prices listed and most of them are high.  A regular doctor is more likely to charge modest prices.

[Leon]

I disagree that a walk-in clinic is the optimal way if you don't have insurance.  Immigrants who come to Canada because they have relatives can ask their relatives, if they have a job, they can ask their coworkers, if they are in school, they can ask their classmates.  You do not have to know people to ask them if they know of a doctor.  They can see a doctors office while they are walking around or find one in the phonebook.

When I lived in Toronto, I found a doctor walking by his office as he was close to my home.  I went in and asked if he was taking new patients. He was but because he did not have a big professional walk-in clinic sign above the door and huge traffic of immigrants not on OHIP, he was not set up to take payments.  While I was waiting for OHIP, I had a few visits with him, for prescriptions and other things and I would either pay nothing or he would ask me, just give me $5 or whatever.

Later I lived in AB and went to walk in clinics several times.  Not all of them will let you make an appointment but you can call ahead to a few and ask how many people are waiting and they can give you an idea if it's going to be half an hour or 3.  However, they are set up to take payments and they have their price lists posted at the front desk and believe you me, most of their prices are high.  I had a regular doctor at a walk in clinic for a while and when I got sick and needed an insurance form filled out, it cost me $100.  In the meantime a doctor of a friend of mine was doing those type of things for free.

[kit]

Leon, I think my wife (non-canadian) is also Pregnant. She lives in Calgary with me and waiting for PR papers and desperately looking for a doctor.   Did you say you have a doctor friend?  Can you give me his contact info?

[Leon]

I do actually have a friend who is a doctor but she lives in Edmonton, not Calgary.  Why don't you ask people you know in Calgary?