Health Insurance help !

[stephen92]

So im about to head home for a 2 week holiday, on return il be starting a new 2 year work visa - IEC

1st time i arrived i had 3 months of health insurance, unaware they may shorten my visa to that time but luckily they didnt check.

This time i have a job that will give me OHIP after 3 months so i kind of want to get another 3 - 6 month health insurance till my ohip kicks in but told that may not work.

Upon searching for new health insurance i cant find any that offer more than 365 coverage ? Will 1 year suffice and obviosly everyone who works will start OHIP after 3 months of full time work ?

What are my options here ? thanks for any more help you can offer !

 

[Bs65]

You were very lucky if you activated your IEC without showing proof of insurance but then again the CBSA officers are not very consistent in their knowledge of the process unless I guess they have an actual checklist in front on them on their screen and even then still not consistent but the threat is always present they will check everything. Ultimately the IEC participant is the one who needs to be financially responsible anyway which is another way of looking at it.

Then again recently people have followed all the guidelines had 2 years insurance and proof funds neither which were asked for on landing and then found a note existed on their file limiting permit being issued as 12 months not 24 months with no explanation or advance warning on their POE issued 10 months ago, so the process is inconsistent.

Anyway the main point of having travel insurance on an IEC which of course is not health insurance but medical emergency insurance is for repatriation expenses should someone be unfortunate enough to need repatriating back to home country due to some medical issue or worst case death. Ohip will not cover such an eventuality leaving you or your relatives with a potential massive bill so assuming you have already activated your IEC permit is your choice to take the risk or not as you wont be asked for proof of insurance when you return as would be assumed you already had it when you first landed and activated your IEC permit.

Anyway company called TRUE TRAVELLER do 2 year policies with various options and even cater for people already travelling with policy upgrades and allow multiple trips home something a lot of policies do not. Note it is possible your current 3 month policy cancels out once you return home so read the small print if you were thinking of using up the remaining validity.

 

[Steevy]

There are several Canadian insurance providers that do offer their coverage for up to 2 years. If you get a 2 year insurance plan, you will simply have 2 policies and each of them will be 365 days in duration, which is totally fine with POE officers.

You can take a look the options here - IEC Insurance - 2 Year Coverage

You will also be able to cancel your private coverage when your OHIP or any other provincial insurance plan in Canada kicks in. A refund is based on the number of unused days calculated from the date your government insurance coverage starts till expiry date of your insurance policy.