When do you get your OHIP #?

[DCGelfling]

I know there's a 3-month waiting period after landing before I'll be covered under OHIP. My husband gets dental and vision benefits from his job, but they won't add me to those policies until I have an OHIP number. Hooray for bureaucracy, I guess.

Will they tell me what my OHIP number will be when I apply (even though it won't work for 3 months), or am I also going to have a 3-month waiting period on dental and vision, too?

 

[scylla]

You'll have to wait three months for the vision and dental care too. You won't receive the OHIP# until your three month wait has been completed (or almost completed).

The reason why the insurer needs your OHIP number to provide you with coverage isn't due to bureaucracy. It's because their coverage starts where OHIP stops. Consequently you need to have OHIP coverage to qualify for their coverage (i.e. requesting an OHIP# is their way of ensuring you have OHIP coverage before they agree to cover you as well).

I'm located in Ontario too and went through the exact same thing with my husband and my workplace benefits.

 

[DCGelfling]

Thanks.

It just feels like they should to be able to say OHIP covers A, B, and C so that's got a 3-month wait based on Ontario residency rules, but Dental covers X, Y, and Z so those claims are covered by virtue of being the spouse of an employee. I guess that's why 'should' is such a dirty word, though.

 

[scylla]

Yes - that would have been ideal for us too...

 

[spartacus2]

Thanks for sharing!