The Lees

Help! Bureaucracy gone mad! We are having a complete nightmare trying to get health cards for me and the the kids.

To start from the beginning we went along to the Ministry of health office with permanent contract and employers letter in hand a while ago but were told that my OH is fine but the letter wasn't good enough for me and the kids to get health cards.

So after much toing and froing between us and the HR department they finally supplied a letter stating that my husband is employed 'indefinitely', which in my eyes is the same as permanent but after calling again to the office yesterday still isn't good enough!

So where do we go from here?

HR are very cagey about what they put on these letters as they are in effect a contract and even though my husband is permanent subject to performance etc. they will not provide anything more than we've got.

Thanks

Sarah

Lionel_in_Ontario

I don't know where you go from here - but I just wanted to say if you're forced to go to the Ministry of Health office more than once then you have my total sympathy.

I went to the one in Mississauga to register for OHIP. I hope I never have to go back again.

Hope it works out for you.

Squibbler

Looking back through your previous posts it looks like you're here on a Work Permit? If so how long is it valid for? Only the spouses and kids of workers on a 3yr (or more) work permit are eligible. There's some useful reading here:

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/...faq_dt.html#Q1

raine66

I think something similar to this happened to Voyager970 (Eddie), so hopefully he will read this and give you some advise.

The Lees

Thanks guys.

We're having a final shot to see if HR will change the 'indefinitely' to 'permanent' but red tape and all that, who knows???

Obviously the Ministry haven't got a dictionary so unless the terms 'permanent' or 'longer than three years' are used specifically we have no hope! :curse: Talk about robots!

iaink

Thats not strictly true, the permit can be for a year, but if the job offer / letter of contract / whatever meets the 3 year requirement, then all the dependents qualify for OHIP regardles of what the work permit itself says. I dont know why the OHIP office are being jerks about this case, it seems obvious to me you meet the requirements. You could try another office I suppose.

It seems the OP has two choices, both of which involve hassling the employers HR people to either A: write it up in a way OHIP will accept, or B: provide private health cover for the family in leue of OHIP.

They dont want to go find a replacement employee after going to all the hassle to get the work permit etc, so they should oblige one way or another. Just make it crystal clear to them how important adequate insurance cover is.

The Lees

Thanks iaink, that was my understanding of it too.

It may well be worth a try visiting another office just to see if they have a bit more sense but I'll see if we get any joy with the HR rep again first.

Voyager970

Sarah

Had the same problems with OHIP for the family, I was OK with my OHIP.
We had to actually get a letter form my employers HR dept stating that I will be employed for a 3 year period. I did not think that they would do this as 3 years is a long time to state that you will employ someone, contracts being legally binding and all the mumbo jumbo that goes with them.

We tried three different variations of the wording fro our letter, each time we visited our OHIP office in downtown London they simply refused to process our application unless it stated the 3 year period, so after much fretting and worrying I basically told my employer that I would have no alternative but to move back to the UK as being here with no OHIP for the family was suicidal.

Anyway they eventually gave me the letter and off me the the wifey went to the OHIP office, waited about an hour, went to the desk and explained our situation and guess what

The bloomin lady behind the desk didn,t even look at my documentation, I was furious, all that worrying and all for nothing !!! :curse: :curse:

I eventually gave the only reason was that it was a jobsworth cows that served us previously, red tape bullshit !!!!. No common sense !!!!

So yes you may want to try another office, but if this doesnt work then it will be down to you asking the employer for a proper letter, tell them you may have no option but to return to the UK, as you cannot be in Canada without proper medical cover.

Hope it all works out for you

Eddie

OHH BTW we are in Ontario

The Lees

Thanks Eddie. So we're not the only ones! Things have obviously improved as they will accept the 'permanent' now as well as the 'three years' line but it's true employers are very reluctant to do this but maybe that's what the ohip people are counting on, which would explain why they are so inflexible. Both of us are paying taxes so i don't think it should even be an issue.

I have told my husband to tell his employer that we cannot stay without healthcare cover and need a letter they will accept and he has spoken to his boss who was just stunned and told him to mention it to the VP when he came in...that does seem a little over the top but needs must if something isn't done.

After coming back from the office on Tuesday I was all set to go back to the UK as it seems like one obstacle after another so it will be no problem to put that to the HR dept. If we can't get health cover then there's no way we can stay as private health cover would be way beyond our means.

Thanks again,

Sarah

Voyager970

Sarah we are the same, both of us are paying taxes, its all red tape bullshit. I do not see why a work permit holders family cannot recieve OHIP as the WP holders are paying their taxes.

I was days away from throwing in the towel and heading back to blighty. My employer even phoned the OHIP office and asked them for a reasonable explanation, they just dug their heels in and stuck to the rules and regs.

Yet on the day we arrived with the proper letter the lady behind the desk didn't even look at it, I was mad !!!

We looked at private cover as well, way to expensive

See this link about OHIP

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/...faq_dt.html#Q1

Hope it all works out for you

Eddie

Squibbler

Oh Poo! Insert the word "automatically" before eligible . Should have checked before I sent.

iaink

Not if the employer agrees to pay for it if they really dont want to commit to three years.

Generally speaking employement contracts are not worth the paper they are printed on here anyway. If they want you gone before the three years they can fire you without warning or explanation here anyway .

louisasurreygirl

I [U]finally[U] registered for OHIP yesterday. I have been here almost a year on a temporary "open" work permit and couldn't get OHIP throughout that time either. Now that I finally qualify for it as a PR, I asked if they would waive the 3 month waiting period too since I had already been living here and paying taxes etc. and obviously passed a medical in order to get the PR, but they wouldn't have it - rules are rules apparently - so it still doesn't kick in until late July .. but still, it's finally here!

I have also looked into the private health care option - and I did take this route for 6 months of the time I was here - it was the 'visitors to canada' plan.. which I understand is usually all you will get offered. However, you should be warned that this really only covers you on an "emergency only" basis. It won't cover you if you want to see the doctor because you need antibiotics or have some other ailment. Doesn't cover you in the event of pregnancy either as another example. It was pretty expensive too and was no substitute for something like BUPA, which I imagined private health insurance to be....

It's a total pain, but I would (if I were in your situation) definitely demand a letter from your HR, because it is vital that your family (at least your kids in any case) are covered.

Good luck!!

Oakvillian

Sarah, we registered at the Oakville office as well (the one at North Service Road and Dorval), and it took us two goes to get OH and kids registered (well, kid #1; #2 was born here shortly after arrival so got OHIP coverage automatically from birth before any of the rest of us!). First time round, we didn't realise we needed an employer's letter and just took passports and WP with us, they registered me but said we had to come back for the rest of the family.

When we took the letter in they processed us straight away - though this may have been expedited by the screaming baby we had with us at the time; I think they just wanted to get the paperwork done and get us out of the office as fast as possible!

We could lend you said baby if you get desparate

If I can find it I'll post the text of the letter we were given by my employer - our HR people deal with quite a few OHIP application requests and have a standard form of words that seems to do the trick. They get round the contract/committing to 3 years thing by putting a line in bold at the top saying something like "this letter is for the purposes of OHIP application only and does not constitute a contract of employment."

The Lees

We are still waiting for the HR rep to get back to us again but I can't see us staying if we aren't covered...it just isn't worth the risk. It's so obvious the job is ongoing but the jobsworth clowns at OHIP just won't budge.

Anyway I am going to write to the MP to vent my frustrations as it looks like it is common place for them to be so obstructive...perhaps it's in the job description!

Thanks for the advice.

Sarah