Mh

My Father in-law lived in Wisconsin by himself, and worked just over
the state border in Illinois. He was a Canadian Citizen, but got a job
offer down there approx 4.5 years ago. Sadly, he passed away on Sunday
down in Milwaukee. He had a sudden illness and spent less than a week
in intensive care down there.

Now, as far as we can tell from other family members, that while he
lived down there he did maintain his OHIP (Ontario Health card) thru
maintaining a Canadian residence/mailing address (his Sisters), and
therefore from we can can gather from hearsay, he then never took up
medical insurance in the United States, because of still having his
OHIP. Now, obviously the family is grieving and a very sad period and
have only just started looking into this and I am here to ask for as
much information for them. Yes, my husband plans on calling OHIP
tomorrow and see if they can help with the medical bill, but if anyone
has had any similiar experiences, any info would be greatly
appreciated.

R. Carvish

In most provinces, maintaining residence means being physically present in
the province which provides you with health care for at least 183 days of
the year. That means even though he has a mailing address and stays with a
relative, if he is not physically present for at least 183, he is not
considered a resident of Ontario qualified for OHIP. You'll need to double
check the residency requirement with OHIP, I've only been living here for
18 months and have not yet needed to renew my status. (In my former
province, it's asked on a renewal form questions about time spent outside
of the province).

Furthermore, if Ohip does cover anything at all, it will be a very small
amount. when having permanent residency in a province in Ontario and
receiving health coverage, that coverage is good for medical care within
that province. In Ontario, at specific clinics, and for specific
procedures, you cannot use your "out of province health care" to get these
benefits, all out of province claimants must fill in a form as to what
they are doing in Ontario receiving health care, and the home province
pays. It's quite likely to be in Ontario with out of province care, and
be faced with a bill for some of the care you received.

All travelers and residents are advised before leaving Canada to obtain
blue Cross or some other travel insurance for their time out of the
country. However in inter-province travel, there is less need to worry,
these laws of how much is covered varies from province to province, and
where you spend most of your time, will depend which province you are
actually covered. It gets very complicated for students,and people in
similar situations who spend more than 183 out of their home province.

Best of luck, but as a person who maintained residence in the US
(temporarily) while having provincial health care coverage, I had to
obtain a secondary insurance for all my US medical care/needs.

Rachel in Ontario

MH ([email protected]) writes:
    > My Father in-law lived in Wisconsin by himself, and worked just over
    > the state border in Illinois. He was a Canadian Citizen, but got a job
    > offer down there approx 4.5 years ago. Sadly, he passed away on Sunday
    > down in Milwaukee. He had a sudden illness and spent less than a week
    > in intensive care down there.
    >
    > Now, as far as we can tell from other family members, that while he
    > lived down there he did maintain his OHIP (Ontario Health card) thru
    > maintaining a Canadian residence/mailing address (his Sisters), and
    > therefore from we can can gather from hearsay, he then never took up
    > medical insurance in the United States, because of still having his
    > OHIP. Now, obviously the family is grieving and a very sad period and
    > have only just started looking into this and I am here to ask for as
    > much information for them. Yes, my husband plans on calling OHIP
    > tomorrow and see if they can help with the medical bill, but if anyone
    > has had any similiar experiences, any info would be greatly
    > appreciated.