Health insurance when not covered by OHIP

[angelaPH]

Hi everybody,

I am looking for health insurance since I am waiting for my PR to be approved and I do not have OHIP.

I am currently covered under my husband's plan but it's only for drugs and whatever is not covered by the provincial plan.

I am having troubles in finding something that covers doctors and hospitals and replaces the OHIP.

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rob_TO]

https://www.kanetix.ca/travel-visitors-to-canada

Make sure you are actually covered by your husband's plan. Many Ontario employer insurances, don't cover you at all for anything if you are not also covered under OHIP. Need to call them and ask.

 

[scylla]

Make sure you are actually covered by your husband's plan. Many Ontario employer insurances, don't cover you at all for anything if you are not also covered under OHIP. Need to call them and ask.

I second this. You should double-check you really have coverage. The vast majority of employer insurance policies will only cover you if you also have OHIP. If it's one of the major insurers (e.g. Manulife), then you're not covered.

 

[angelaPH]

Thanks to both of you.

My husband is currently paying to have me covered under his employer insurance and we already had money back from them for drugs and a physiotherapy session. It seems to work.

My problem is that the majority of insurances I found cover just emergencies (hospitals, accidents, dental etc) but they do not replace OHIP and therefore (I suppose) if I go to a walk-in clinic I'm not covered. Am I wrong?

 

[scylla]

My problem is that the majority of insurances I found cover just emergencies (hospitals, accidents, dental etc) but they do not replace OHIP and therefore (I suppose) if I go to a walk-in clinic I'm not covered. Am I wrong?

No - you're absolutely right. The majority of plans only cover emergencies. There certainly are plans that cover more than just emergencies - however they are very expensive. It will be cheaper to just pay the walk-in clinic costs yourself.

 

[angelaPH]

No - you're absolutely right. The majority of plans only cover emergencies. There certainly are plans that cover more than just emergencies - however they are very expensive. It will be cheaper to just pay the walk-in clinic costs yourself.

Thanks again. I'll have a look around and if I do not find anything I guess the only solution is to have an insurance only for emergencies.
Have a nice day!

 

[Rob_TO]

My husband is currently paying to have me covered under his employer insurance and we already had money back from them for drugs and a physiotherapy session. It seems to work.

The problem is, the insurance company may not be aware you are not covered under OHIP. You need to check if you even qualify to be covered under his plan since you don't have OHIP yet. As mentioned, most employer plans in Ontario don't cover anything (no drugs, no physio, no RMT, no dental, etc) if you don't have OHIP.

If in fact you aren't supposed to be covered but the insurance company is just not aware, and they were to find out, they could potentially bill you for all the money they've paid out.

You really need to call the insurance company and ask if you qualify even though you don't have OHIP yet.

 

[angelaPH]

Thanks for the heads up Rob, we just called and they said I'm covered.
They proposed to submit our expenses for doctors to the provincial system and once we get a rejection to submit the expense and the rejection to them and they will try to cover that.

 

[goldenbrown]

That's an interesting situation, I guess your husband's employer really wants to protect the employees.

If you are looking for a plan that covers more than just emergencies, there is a TIC policy that covers some routine check ups, eye exams, vaccinations + maternity benefits. Aside from that its a regular Visitors Policy that covers medical care, hospitalization and repatriation.

<a href=http://arbetovinsurance.com/2014/03/15/why-i-choose-tic/>Health Insurance to Replace OHIP</a>