Giving birth in Canada without provincial healthcare coverage (NOT BIRTH TOURISM)

[colgate1]

- Prices will depend on what happens during delivery. So at best you will get a ballpark but there's no way to know the final bill in advance. I thought C-section were running around 10k to 12k with a shared room a few years ago in Ontario but my price info is probably dated. This would be with no complications obviously.
- I was going to recommend looking into a midwife to try to keep the costs low but that's a no-go if you need a C-section.
- I'm not sure if you find the hospital first or get referred to the OBGYN first and then attached to a specific hospital. I would think it would be the second but could be mistaken.

Sorry. Can't be of much help. Hopefully others can comment.

Yeah, we are looking at 10 to 15K with no complications, etc..

 

[colgate1]

Sorry, so what relevance does the citizenship certificate processing time have to do with anything here?

Not criticizing, it's just stuck in my head as a concern that this comment is here for some reason related to your wife's case.

My understanding is that you need to apply for the citizenship certificate if your child was born outside Canada. Then, you get the passport for your child.

You are looking at around 1 year there. 10 months for the certificate (if you lucky) and passport waiting times.

Thank you

 

[colgate1]

I think OP is commenting on the length of time to process the citizenship certificate to get a passport and bring the child to Canada if the child is born outside of Canada. At least that was my interpretation. Of course the OP wouldn't need to wait the 10 months for the cert and could apply for a temp passport to bring the child to Canada sooner.

Your interpretation is correct.

Apply for temp passport? Not sure what it is but how can you apply for a temp passport if your child was born outside Canada?

Thank you

 

[colgate1]

Ah, thanks. Yes, the citizenship certificate is not the limiting factor in being able to return with an infant to Canada.

How can you apply for a passport without a citizenship cert if your child was born outside Canada?

Thank you

 

[colgate1]

Have you tried calling a hospital and asking to get put through to the billing department and asking them directly what costs are? Presumably there's a standard room rate per day etc. Also, if you haven't already, have you confirmed at what point after delivery Ohip kicks in for the newborn? If God forbid there's a NICU stay, would that get billed to Ohip (since I assume newborn Ontarians are eligible without a waiting period) or still be billed under your wife's stay? As for finding a hospital that will let her deliver without Ohip, I'd be shocked if legally a hospital can deny care to someone in labour because of her insurance status. Realistically hospitals are going to deal with people without provincial coverage all the time (visitors, people in the waiting period for coverage etc).

As for prenatal care, have you called crisis pregnancy centres? Those places usually know all there is to be known about access to prenatal care in a variety of circumstances.

What is crisis pregnancy center?

I don't feel like calling Service Ontario for OHIP stuff. I don't like dealing with them. I am not sure if infant OHIP kicks in in case of NICU or mother's.

I can call hospitals and try to talk to their billing departments. Since, we are interested in c-section, I cannot have my beloved my wife go through hussle of arranging an obgyn and c-section last minute. I believe they all need to be arranged in advanced.

Thank you

 

[MJSPARV]

What is crisis pregnancy center?

I dont feel like calling Service Ontario for OHIP stuff. I dont like dealing with them. I am not sure if infant OHIP kicks in in case of NICU or mother's.

I can call hospitals and try to talk to their billing departments. Since, we are interested in c-section, I cannot have my beloved my go thrugh hussle of arranging an obgyn and c-section last minute. I believe they all need to be aranged in advanced.

Thank you

Google crisis pregnancy centre [name of your town]. They are places that help women find prenatal care. Typically used when a pregnancy is unplanned, but they know a lot about what's available in your area for prenatal care.

So, have given birth twice, and being pregnant again, a heads up that it's unlikely your wife can just decide to have a C section without a valid medical reason. OBs in Canada, rightly so, don't just do C sections because the mom wants one. C sections have higher risks for both mom and baby (unless there's a medical reason that she can't give birth normally) and the recovery is far worse and far more likely to involve serious complications. I know in some places mothers can elect C sections just because they want one, but that's not really the case here in my experience. If I've misread your posts and your wife has been told she must have a C section for medical reasons, my apologies for my mini -health lesson, but your posts have implied it's a choice she is making for a C section.

Re newborn Ohip - a two second google search led me to this https://www.ontariomidwives.ca/newborn-ohip-eligibility

Which led to this: https://www.hnuc.org/ definitely worth looking at for your situation as it's the website of an organisation that helps uninsured people in the GTA access healthcare...

 

[scylla]

Your interpretation is correct.

Apply for temp passport? Not sure what it is but how can you apply for a temp passport if your child was born outside Canada?

Thank you

There's a process for applying for a temp passport without the certificate. You need to show that you have already submitted the certificate application but don't need to have the application actually processed yet. You would need to contact the embassy / consultate in your wife's home country if you want to know more about this process. I've never applied for one myself but others on this forum have, specifically for children.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/temporary-passport.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/document-types.html

 

[canuck78]

What is crisis pregnancy center?

I dont feel like calling Service Ontario for OHIP stuff. I dont like dealing with them. I am not sure if infant OHIP kicks in in case of NICU or mother's.

I can call hospitals and try to talk to their billing departments. Since, we are interested in c-section, I cannot have my beloved my go thrugh hussle of arranging an obgyn and c-section last minute. I believe they all need to be aranged in advanced.

Thank you

@MJSPARV

Crisis pregnancy centre are usually centre run by religious organizations that masquerade as women’s health centres that provide abortions. They usually have no medical staff onsite and usually try to show you antichoice propaganda videos. Not something that is appropriate in this situation.

 

[canuck78]

What is crisis pregnancy center?

I dont feel like calling Service Ontario for OHIP stuff. I dont like dealing with them. I am not sure if infant OHIP kicks in in case of NICU or mother's.

I can call hospitals and try to talk to their billing departments. Since, we are interested in c-section, I cannot have my beloved my go thrugh hussle of arranging an obgyn and c-section last minute. I believe they all need to be aranged in advanced.

Thank you

I know Sunnybrook was not accepting pregnant women without OHIP although with a spouse who is s Canadian citizen you may still qualify. Do you have a GP? They could probably provide you with a list of local OBGYNs. Has your spouse recently arrived in Canada or has she been without prenatal care? If you have a list of local OBs you’ll need to call around and see whether the OB is accepting new patients and new patients with your partner’s due date. You could also call your local hospital and ask whether they accept women without OHIP and could they provide a list of OBGYNs who have privileges at their hospital. They may be able to provide a list of OBGYNs who accept private payers. There tends to be a few doctors that take on the majority of patients without OHIP. Not all OBs are set up for private payers and there isn’t a set list of fees that they should charge so many prefer to stick to OHIP holders. Most hospitals will want you to pay at least portion of your delivery costs before delivery especially for a scheduled c-section. If you do qualify for a scheduled C-section you will be able to have a pretty good idea about the costs as long as there are no complications. I would expect around 15k. Your baby would qualify for OHIP right away so you wouldn’t be responsible for any NICU costs if your baby did need to go to the NICU. The baby qualifies for OHIP as long as they meet the residency requirements to qualify for OHIP so your baby will need to remain in Ontario for the first 5 out of 6 months and 6 months out of their first year. If you have any friends who live closeby that have been pregnant in the past 5-10 years they will be able to tell you where the closest labour and delivery unit is and may also be able to suggest an OB that they liked although you’d need to verify whether they accept patients without OHIP.

Just an FYI in the 3rd trimester you go to appointments every 2 weeks to weekly appointments so you’ll need to consider that. If you try and visit a clinic or charity that provides medical care you may not get the same OB and most do not do deliveries so you would get whoever was on call that day. Not sure how that would work if you needed a scheduled c-section. Many without OHIP just show up at their local hospital when they go into labour and the OB on call will be the doctor who delivers the baby. If you have a scheduled c-section it is normally your doctor that schedules the c-section based on when they are working so having an OB that you see regularly is more important versus seeing whoever is either volunteering or working in a clinic serving people without provincial healthcare.

 

[MJSPARV]

@MJSPARV

Crisis pregnancy centre are usually centre run by religious organizations that masquerade as women’s health centres that provide abortions. They usually have no medical staff onsite and usually try to show you antichoice propaganda videos. Not something that is appropriate in this situation.

Suggesting them merely as a place that would have a list of prenatal care options, and likely deals with people without OHIP frequently. I'm familiar with what they do and don't do. And they DO have lists of prenatal care options for a variety of circumstances

 

[canuck78]

Suggesting them merely as a place that would have a list of prenatal care options, and likely deals with people without OHIP frequently. I'm familiar with what they do and don't do. And they DO have lists of prenatal care options for a variety of circumstances

Think they deal with people with OHIP quite frequently. Many google abortion and the first thing that comes up is the crisis pregnancy centres on purpose. I would avoid these centres. They are not healthcare resources and their primary goal is to prevent abortions not provide the best healthcare. The list of physicians they may have are likely limited to physicians that have strong views about religion and not just good local physicians who practice based on medicine not religion.

Let’s be honest the prenatal care options are purely based on their religious views not based on medical evidence. Their goal is not to provide the best healthcare for women it is to prevent abortions. There is a current case in the US where a pregnancy crisis centre missed an ectopic pregnancy and a woman almost died. If you want to suggest a resources contact a planned parenthood for example if one is available in your city in Canada or your local hospital for example. You could also contact a medical clinic that helps refugees and/or the undocumented. All these options will provide healthcare resources without factoring in religious views.

 

[colgate1]

Google crisis pregnancy centre [name of your town]. They are places that help women find prenatal care. Typically used when a pregnancy is unplanned, but they know a lot about what's available in your area for prenatal care.

So, have given birth twice, and being pregnant again, a heads up that it's unlikely your wife can just decide to have a C section without a valid medical reason. OBs in Canada, rightly so, don't just do C sections because the mom wants one. C sections have higher risks for both mom and baby (unless there's a medical reason that she can't give birth normally) and the recovery is far worse and far more likely to involve serious complications. I know in some places mothers can elect C sections just because they want one, but that's not really the case here in my experience. If I've misread your posts and your wife has been told she must have a C section for medical reasons, my apologies for my mini -health lesson, but your posts have implied it's a choice she is making for a C section.

Re newborn Ohip - a two second google search led me to this https://www.ontariomidwives.ca/newborn-ohip-eligibility

Which led to this: https://www.hnuc.org/ definitely worth looking at for your situation as it's the website of an organisation that helps uninsured people in the GTA access healthcare...

God bless and congratulations on your pregnancy

hnuc.org may be able help us. Thank you for the links and the mini health session as well.

I do not think my wife has a valid medical reason to have a C-section. We would know it by now if there were any. I agree the fact that many OBs in Canada may not be OK just because a mom wants one. Rights, recovery after C-section is not fun at all from what I have been reading.

Thank you

 

[colgate1]

There's a process for applying for a temp passport without the certificate. You need to show that you have already submitted the certificate application but don't need to have the application actually processed yet. You would need to contact the embassy / consultate in your wife's home country if you want to know more about this process. I've never applied for one myself but others on this forum have, specifically for children.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/temporary-passport.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/document-types.html

Thank you for your reply.

Canadian embassies overseas is a joke! I am sure there is at least backlog of 6 months. We might consider though that temp passport, if needed.

 

[canuck78]

Thank you for your reply.

Canadian embassies overseas is a joke! I am sure there is at least backlog of 6 months. We might consider though that temp passport, if needed.

If born abroad your child will need to have their children in Canada to pass on Canadian citizenship. Many are unaware of that rule so something to consider.

 

[colgate1]

I know Sunnybrook was not accepting pregnant women without OHIP although with a spouse who is s Canadian citizen you may still qualify. Do you have a GP? They could probably provide you with a list of local OBGYNs. Has your spouse recently arrived in Canada or has she been without prenatal care? If you have a list of local OBs you’ll need to call around and see whether the OB is accepting new patients and new patients with your partner’s due date. You could also call your local hospital and ask whether they accept women without OHIP and could they provide a list of OBGYNs who have privileges at their hospital. They may be able to provide a list of OBGYNs who accept private payers. There tends to be a few doctors that take on the majority of patients without OHIP. Not all OBs are set up for private payers and there isn’t a set list of fees that they should charge so many prefer to stick to OHIP holders. Most hospitals will want you to pay at least portion of your delivery costs before delivery especially for a scheduled c-section. If you do qualify for a scheduled C-section you will be able to have a pretty good idea about the costs as long as there are no complications. I would expect around 15k. Your baby would qualify for OHIP right away so you wouldn’t be responsible for any NICU costs if your baby did need to go to the NICU. The baby qualifies for OHIP as long as they meet the residency requirements to qualify for OHIP so your baby will need to remain in Ontario for the first 5 out of 6 months and 6 months out of their first year. If you have any friends who live closeby that have been pregnant in the past 5-10 years they will be able to tell you where the closest labour and delivery unit is and may also be able to suggest an OB that they liked although you’d need to verify whether they accept patients without OHIP.

Just an FYI in the 3rd trimester you go to appointments every 2 weeks to weekly appointments so you’ll need to consider that. If you try and visit a clinic or charity that provides medical care you may not get the same OB and most do not do deliveries so you would get whoever was on call that day. Not sure how that would work if you needed a scheduled c-section. Many without OHIP just show up at their local hospital when they go into labour and the OB on call will be the doctor who delivers the baby. If you have a scheduled c-section it is normally your doctor that schedules the c-section based on when they are working so having an OB that you see regularly is more important versus seeing whoever is either volunteering or working in a clinic serving people without provincial healthcare.

Thank you for your reply. Yeah, I have a GP. Perhaps, yeah, I could reach out to them and see if they recommend any obgyns. She has had prenatal care and all the required tests were done. Good know NICU cost would be covered by the baby's OHIP.

I will make a note of your reply @canuck78 Thanks again!