Moving out of province soon, can't get coverage anywhere b/c of waiting times?

[Sarrett]

So my common-law spouse landed in Canada this fall, in Québec. We are now planning to move to BC in June.

She was insured in her home country until January (the policy covered expenses she could incurr in Canada), so we figured we could afford to wait for provincial health coverage until her old insurance expired. Big mistake. Now Québec is refusing to insure her because she will not be here for the 3 month waiting period + six months in the year, and we can't get insurance in BC until August, 2 months after we move there. So now we have 6 months of limbo where we can't seem to get her insured anywhere.

Worse, we cannot seem to get her insured under any private plans (things like Sun Life, etc.), because the ones we've found are only available to people already covered by their provincial healthcare system.

The few we've found that are tailored specifically to landed immigrants seem to have rather high prices, aren't clearly explained (one says it will cover up to 10,000$, no mention of what that means though) and all talk about the first 90 days, which are long gone in our case.

What can we do to get her insured?

 

[steaky]

Obviously, stay in Quebec.

 

[Sarrett]

We could, but I've received a nice job offer in BC for when my contract here terminates. It would be unfortunate to have to stick around here and search instead.

So it is impossible to get insurance if not covered by a provincial plan and if you've been in the country for more than a month or two, without waiting for provincial coverage?

 

[SenoritaBella]

Did you try FlexCare and BlueCross? They have individual plans with reasonable premiums. As a last resort can she extend the policy in her home country or buy a new policy from there which covers expenses here?

 

[Leon]

So it is impossible to get insurance if not covered by a provincial plan and if you've been in the country for more than a month or two, without waiting for provincial coverage?

Well, you should have applied for Quebec health right away. Actually I think they are pulling hairs because if she's lived in Quebec since this fall and would have been covered had she bothered to apply, she would have been in the province for more than 6 months but on the other hand, health care is big and you are small. If you want to fight health care, you better have time to spare and deep pockets.

Coming to BC, they will not care if she was or was not covered by Quebec Health. Their waiting time is 2 months plus the balance of the third for everybody so there. Of course she could move to BC right now and have her coverage by May 1st there but if she moves in June, she will have to wait for her coverage until Sept. 1st. Look for the user named haver. He is an insurance agent and he may be able to find you some accident & emergency insurance in the meantime.