Private health insurance for the first 3 months in Ontario

[darthbear]

Hello,

I moved to Toronto from the US (NYC) 3 weeks ago. I stayed 2 weeks at a hotel and then settled in an apartment last week.
This morning, I tried to apply for a health insurance card but I've been told that I can only get it after 3 months. Therefore I would need
to look for a private insurance that can cover me for the first 3 months. I've seen that some private insurances require you to apply at most 5 days after your arrival so now I'm not sure what private insurance I can get since I arrived 3 weeks ago. Does anybody know of a private insurance in
Toronto that can cover me for 3 months?

Thanks in advance.

Darth.

[martha marita]

yes 5 days before you applly otherwise i understand its hard.

[eduardoF]

perhaps you can get a traveller's insurance?

[MarceloS]

darthbear,

How much did you pay for those 2 weeks in the hotel?

Thanks.

[TatianaRussia]

Darthbear you should buy visitors to Canada insurance. There are 3 or 4 insurance companies that are able to sell you it.
We bought it online a long time ago.

[TatianaRussia]

We bought the insurance online.
We paid by credit card and received it by email in 20minutes.

[haver]

Yes, you can buy visitors to Canada medical insurance online.
If you buy Manulife Financial insurance before arrival to Canada , you will be covered starting the arrival day.

If you buy this insurance after arrival with any insurance company there is a waiting period when this emergency medical insurance starts.
It may be 48 or 72 hours depending on company you choose for the first 30 days.
If you buy later the waiting period could be much longer or they won't accept you.

[toby]

Tatiana Russia:

Do you mind telling us which Internet site you used?  Did you do a lot of research before choosing this one?

[darbi]

Would the 3 months private insurance cover pregnancy, which is a pre-existing condition??
What is the average cost of this 3 months insurance??
Which companies do provide??

[Leon]

You can get insurance to cover everything possible but if you want it to cover a pre-existing condition, they will probably make it expensive enough that they will not lose money on it.

The cost of the insurance depends on the coverage you pick as well as if you are looking for more than a simple emergency insurance, it may also depend on your health and pre-existing conditions.

I can not recommend any company but you can go to an insurance broker and they will give you different options based on your needs.  I believe haver is an insurance broker, you can PM him.  You can get emergency travel insurance from old country to cover you for the first couple of weeks while you look for a more complete insurance in Canada.

[haver]

Leon,

Thank you for the referral. Yes. I am an insurance broker and I work with all Canadian travel insurance companies.
If anybody has any insurance related questions you are welcome to ask.
You can buy Visitors to Canada Medical Insurance online from my website.

[toby]

As with any recommendation, the person most concerned that it is the best option for you is -- you. Insurance companies have a roster of favourite insurance companies, and they may be ignoring the best insurance company for you.

So even if you get a recommendation from an insurance salesman, I advise you to compare his/her quote with the price available online from the same insurance company. Sure the salesman's services are worth something, but you should know how much you are paying for those services, and can then decide whether they are worth the cost.

Second,. I suggest you Google "travel insurance" and other search words to see if there are other insurance companies that appear interesting, and ask your insurance agent about them too.  Listen carefully to his/her answers, and then decide whether you are getting good advice or a sales pitch.

As Leon says, getting coverage for pregnancy will be expensive, and if you can get coverage at all, expect to see many exemptions to limit the company's liability.

Is it possible to postpone the baby's arrival for a few months?   

[martha marita]

Yeh I was in the same situation.  Pregnant and landed in ontario.  If the pregnancy is still early and like 3 months or so then probably you could come.  I had to go back to uk and then wanted to come and deliver in canada but was impossible. 

The only thing is that everytime you visit an accident and emergency clinic you will need to pay 100 dollars.  That happened when my daughter had cold all the time, but for my case at this time we claimed all the cost through insurance plus drugs though we had to provide alot of documentations again to insurance company.

If the pregnancy has got no complications then you could come and deliver here which will be way cheaper than having a c section.  The reason I am saying this because when you give birth outside and the parents are pr it will be alot of pain for you guys to get a trp for the little one and very very stressful.

[haver]

The baby delivery is not an emergency. So it is not covered by visitors to Canada insurance.

Baby delivery is covered by student insurance only provided it was bought for the term over one year and the student was not pregnant at the time of purchse (student should buy it atleast one year before pregnancy).

As for prices for travel insurance , the prices in Canada from the same insurance company are the same does not matter who is selling it.