treehavn

A belated happy new year to you all. I've got a query regarding health insurance that I hope you might be able to help me with? We're flying out to Canada on the 19th and it's all starting to feel very real.

My other half is travelling on a return ticket, since his passport request for spousal PR hadn't come through when we booked the flights. It has now - and we're going to send the passport back to London from within Canada. My query is can he get health coverage through standard travel insurance, or is it best to go for private health care cover while awaiting OHIP (tricky as we can't know how long the visa process will take)?

Also, my OHIP card expired a few years ago. I presume I will have to go back to the beginning and wait the 3 months for insurance - does anyone know if this is the case, or can I just renew (unlikely but I thought I'd ask)?

Finally I've been quoted $329 CDN as a single person from Manulife - does that sounds about right for 3 months coverage? Thank you!

adele

Not sure about the OHIP specifics as I'm moving to BC, but thought I'd just say that I paid £175 for CanadaSure insurance for the first 3 months, it's one way specific expat insurance and includes the journey over and then 3 months health coverage. Not sure if it's suitable for your needs though, you'd need to check the small print and see if it meets your circumstances.

All the best

Adele

maxinehynes

hi, we got 3 months medical insurance with $500 excess for about £400.for a family of 4. and bugger me my son who is never ill got rushed to hospital on tuesday for some treatment was so dehydrated from a sickness bug needed 3 litres of fluid by drip was in the hospital for about 6 hours and it cost $715 so take the insurance and maybe think twice about a excess our policey is with manu life also. its well worth it you never know. max

treehavn

Cheers for the rec, I'll check them out. I have no idea how much health insurance might cost, so it's nice to get some sort of idea. Thanks!

treehavn

Cheers for the advice Max, and sorry to hear about your son being poorly. I've been wavering because :::touch wood::: I've never been really ill in my life (barring flu and glandular fever), but there's nothing in the world like the stresses of emigrating (and having spent the past month living with my mother in law) to bring something on, I guess.

Auld Yin

Also, my OHIP card expired a few years ago.

There are two types of OHIP cards. The one with the Red stripe has no expiry date whereas the newer version, green with photograph, has a five year life span before they require renewal. Which one do you have?

ukcanuck

I looked at this and found that gap year/long stay health insurance was a lot cheaper and I couldn't find anywhere in the T&Cs that said it would be invalid in a situation like this.

Would we be able to use this type of travel insurance to cover the gap before OHIP kicked in as well as extended care when it did.
I did a quick search for long stay insurance based out of the UK and came up with £168 for a full year??

I called the company and all they stipulate is that you have to have been a resident for six months in the twelve before the policy is taken out and you have to return at the end of the policy but did not stipulate for how much. I suppose you could just have a return ticket of proof of intention to return in case you did get sick. Then when OHIP etc kicks in just not go back??

Don't know will have to research this one some more but it is definitely cheaper.

What do others think???

chumley

im insured with health care international it was the cheapest iIcould find for proper cover not simply travel emergecny type cover

it was around $2800 us dollars I think for two over 45's but under 50's for a year

we are only visitor status at the mo so must have proper full cover

ukcanuck

At the risk of sounding silly but what is the difference between the two as when I looked at what each covers the proper cover did not cover regular check ups with family doc or regular dental check ups.

Might just have been the cover providers that I was looking at.

Cheers.

treehavn

Off the top of my head, the green one. I was born in Canada, but when I returned for college and applied for OHIP I'd been out of the country for nearly 20 years. How do you get a red one then, out of interest?

treehavn

I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of others on this too. One of the things that concerns me is that I don't know how long it will take for CIC London to return the passport - and therefore allow my partner to apply for OHIP - so the period we'll have to take out health insurance for is a bit fuzzy. The sensible thing would be to get it for the entire 6 month visiting period until the date of his return ticket - but it costs. You can get travel insurance for people with pre-existing conditions which might be option...

TrishP

I went with CanadaSure (or something like that) - really not a lot of $$ considering how much healthcare could cost in the event of needing services. The policy was set up in advance of leaving the UK with a start date of the day I landed in Canada, lasting for 3 months. I went to the nearest OHIP office asap on arrival to register. As long as you have an address where they can send the card after 3 months ...

Auld Yin

The red ones are the old issue and will be grandfathered out eventually. I just haven't applied for the new green issue.
Check the expiry date on your card. It may still be valid.

Auld Yin

There is no difference in coverage provided. The red one is an older issue. The green one is an attempt to defeat fraud. OHIP covers family doctor visits but not dental coverage.

PaulandNikki

Be careful when buying gap year or long stay insurance, they quite often will repatriate in the event of serious injury/illness so you may find yourself on a flight back home!