Alberta health card renewal for permanant resident after not living in canada for 6 months

[sammy_engineer]

Hi all

I wanted to ask you regarding my father health card situation , my father is retired and he is a permanant resident in Canada for 5 years now , usually he spent half the year with my sister who is a Canadian citizen and the other half with my brother who lives in Dubai ( he enjoys the best weather in both countries

this time he stayed more than 7 months outside of Canada , so I'm assuming his health card is not valid now .

now we convinced him to stay in Canada with my sister . could you please let me know for how long he would have to wait until he gets coverage again ? we will need to buy him private coverage for sure but is it for 3 months or more ?

I could not find any information on net regarding this topic ! I even found a link that says extension of Alberta health coverage could be given to people living outside of Canada making personal visits !!!!!! but i wonder if this applies to my dad and his card is still valid ! this is the information that i found below from Alberta health authority :

Source ( http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/absence-from-Alberta.html)
Extended absence from Alberta

If you leave Alberta for another part of Canada and intend to return within 12 months, or leave for another country and intend to return within 6 months, you must maintain your AHCIP coverage. If you are leaving for a longer period and intend to return to Alberta, you may be considered for one of the following extensions of coverage:

• 4 years (48 months) for absence due to work, business, or missionary service;
• 2 years (24 months) for travel, personal visits, or educational leave (sabbatical); or
• the time period you are a full-time student at an accredited educational institution.

 

[sammy_engineer]

lots of vies but no answers! if anybody have been in this situation please comment .

Hi all

I wanted to ask you regarding my father health card situation , my father is retired and he is a permanant resident in Canada for 5 years now , usually he spent half the year with my sister who is a Canadian citizen and the other half with my brother who lives in Dubai ( he enjoys the best weather in both countries

this time he stayed more than 7 months outside of Canada , so I'm assuming his health card is not valid now .

now we convinced him to stay in Canada with my sister . could you please let me know for how long he would have to wait until he gets coverage again ? we will need to buy him private coverage for sure but is it for 3 months or more ?

I could not find any information on net regarding this topic ! I even found a link that says extension of Alberta health coverage could be given to people living outside of Canada making personal visits !!!!!! but i wonder if this applies to my dad and his card is still valid ! this is the information that i found below from Alberta health authority :

Source ( http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/absence-from-Alberta.html)
Extended absence from Alberta

If you leave Alberta for another part of Canada and intend to return within 12 months, or leave for another country and intend to return within 6 months, you must maintain your AHCIP coverage. If you are leaving for a longer period and intend to return to Alberta, you may be considered for one of the following extensions of coverage:

• 4 years (48 months) for absence due to work, business, or missionary service;
• 2 years (24 months) for travel, personal visits, or educational leave (sabbatical); or
• the time period you are a full-time student at an accredited educational institution.

 

[canuck78]

Why don't you just call and ask? You will have to have contact at some point. Your father may be responsible for paying back some medical costs if he used medical services and then didn't spend 183 days out of 12 months.

 

[sammy_engineer]

Why don't you just call and ask? You will have to have contact at some point. Your father may be responsible for paying back some medical costs if he used medical services and then didn't spend 183 days out of 12 months.

I actually decided to call but i wanted to get some experice from any members who had same circumstances . but it seems my dad is the only one who have this situation !

 

[Buletruck]

I cancelled my AHC when I moved to Asia in 2008. When I came back I re-applied and got exactly the same number. Coverage started that day. I doubt your father will have any issues with coverage from day one, particularly if he has only been gone 7 months and hasn't tried to use it in that time.