3 month waiting period for OHIP coverage?

[juliakristof]

So PA got his OWP, and went to service Ontario and was given a piece of paper that said he will be eligible for his OHIP in 3 months. He was working for over a year on a working holiday visa (and then implied status) before he got his OWP so shouldn't the 3 month waiting period be void? Anyone have any link to a web page for this?

 

[simoneleah]

What insurance was your partner under while he was on his IEC visa? It's my understanding that he could have been on OHIP three months after he arrived with his original OWP with 6 months of full-time employment secured (ie, a letter from an employer).

I'm in BC for context but my situation was this -
When I first moved to BC with my IEC visa, I thought I couldn't get MSP at all. By the time I realized I could, I only had 5 months left on my IEC visa (you have to have valid temporary worker status for six months to get MSP, and then you have to wait 3 months after that) so I was stuck paying private insurance until I got a second IEC visa. Then I applied for MSP as soon as I got a new visa, and 3 months later, got an MSP card in the mail.

It sounds similar (albeit, Ontario requires you to have full-time employment, BC only requires your permit be good for 6+ months and then you have to wait 3 months from the time you apply) to Ontario, even if it's not exactly the same.

The Ontario website doesn't say anything about a 3 month wait, which is strange, so maybe it is different than what BC requires.

Edit: To clarify, no, the time he was working under an old visa would not count - that's how it was for me. They don't care that I was working in Canada before, as I didn't have MSP at that time so I was a "new" resident by their standards.

 

[juliakristof]

What insurance was your partner under while he was on his IEC visa?

The Ontario website doesn't say anything about a 3 month wait, which is strange, so maybe it is different than what BC requires.

Edit: To clarify, no, the time he was working under an old visa would not count - that's how it was for me. They don't care that I was working in Canada before, as I didn't have MSP at that time so I was a "new" resident by their standards.

He was (still is) under travel health insurance issued from his home country (Belgium). See that's the thing... we can't find anything on the website that says '3 months' either!

 

[simoneleah]

He was (still is) under travel health insurance issued from his home country (Belgium). See that's the thing... we can't find anything on the website that says '3 months' either!

What does the paper say? Is it an official document? Sorry I can't be more help, hopefully someone with an experience in OHIP can assist. Will be curious to see how your situation plays out.

 

[simoneleah]

https://settlement.org/ontario/health/ohip-and-health-insurance/ontario-health-insurance-plan-ohip/what-is-the-3-month-waiting-period-for-ohip/

So yep, same thing as in BC.

 

[screech339]

3 month wait usually apply to any "new resident" of any province to access provincial health care. However Alberta is the exception. You can access to Alberta health care the day you arrive in Alberta. However the catch is that you must remain in the province for 3 months after receiving treatment during the 3 month period. If you leave Alberta after using health care less than 3 months after initial stay in Alberta, you will be billed for the medical cost.

There are exemptions to the 3 month wait rule which I wasnt aware of at first. If your child is less than 6 month old, the 3 month wait will not apply. I discovered this when I moved to Ontario when my child was 5 months old. They gave my child immediate access to OHIP while my other 1 year old child and I have to wait 3 months. I asked why my youngest got access while my other child didn't. They explained that she was considered a newborn, less than 6 month old, thus granted access to OHIP.

 

[Jaybee43]

Can anyone recommend health insurance companies for my wife as she waits the 3 months for her OHIP to kick in?

 

[canuck78]

3 month wait usually apply to any "new resident" of any province to access provincial health care. However Alberta is the exception. You can access to Alberta health care the day you arrive in Alberta. However the catch is that you must remain in the province for 3 months after receiving treatment during the 3 month period. If you leave Alberta after using health care less than 3 months after initial stay in Alberta, you will be billed for the medical cost.

There are exemptions to the 3 month wait rule which I wasnt aware of at first. If your child is less than 6 month old, the 3 month wait will not apply. I discovered this when I moved to Ontario when my child was 5 months old. They gave my child immediate access to OHIP while my other 1 year old child and I have to wait 3 months. I asked why my youngest got access while my other child didn't. They explained that she was considered a newborn, less than 6 month old, thus granted access to OHIP.

There are some incorrect statements in your reply. In Alberta you may qualify for healthcare coverage on arrival but must remain in Canada for over 6 months or could be asked to repay any care you received.

Newborns are not granted access to healthcare right away in Ontario. In your situation your newborn was lucky enough to receive healthcare on arrival because Alberta refused to pay. Actually your under 6 month old was not entitled to healthcare if he/she remained in Alberta for less than 6 months and could have been asked to repay any healthcare they used for not meeting the residency obligation to access provincial healthcare. Alberta was billed for your healthcare in the first 3 months you lived in Ontario. Since your baby didn’t meet the Alberta residency obligation they waived the 3 month wait period for your baby. Other children under 6 month ps will need to wait 3 months before receiving OHIP. I am unsure if you are an exception because the rest of the family qualified for coverage and you are moving internally. Had the whole family been in Alberta under 6 months they all would likely be waiting 3 months to get OHIP and Alberta may seek repayment for any services they used in Alberta.

 

[screech339]

There are some incorrect statements in your reply. In Alberta you may qualify for healthcare coverage on arrival but must remain in Canada for over 6 months or could be asked to repay any care you received.

Newborns are not granted access to healthcare right away in Ontario. In your situation your newborn was lucky enough to receive healthcare on arrival because Alberta refused to pay. Actually your under 6 month old was not entitled to healthcare if he/she remained in Alberta for less than 6 months and could have been asked to repay any healthcare they used for not meeting the residency obligation to access provincial healthcare. Alberta was billed for your healthcare in the first 3 months you lived in Ontario. Since your baby didn’t meet the Alberta residency obligation they waived the 3 month wait period for your baby. Other children under 6 month ps will need to wait 3 months before receiving OHIP. I am unsure if you are an exception because the rest of the family qualified for coverage and you are moving internally. Had the whole family been in Alberta under 6 months they all would likely be waiting 3 months to get OHIP and Alberta may seek repayment for any services they used in Alberta.

I move back to ontario from US after 5 years away. I was surprised that my youngest got immediate coverage of OHIP while the rest of us had to wait. There was no transfer between province so there was no reason to waiver the 3 month wait other than what they told me at the office. I may have been misinformed on how long you need to stay in Alberta after claiming coverage there, but I was only wrong on the length of stay in Alberta required.

 

[canuck78]

I move back to ontario from US after 5 years away. I was surprised that my youngest got immediate coverage of OHIP while the rest of us had to wait. There was no transfer between province so there was no reason to waiver the 3 month wait other than what they told me at the office. I may have been misinformed on how long you need to stay in Alberta after claiming coverage there, but I was only wrong on the length of stay in Alberta required.

Your youngest should not have received coverage right away and should have waited 3 months as well. Have never heard of the under 6 month rule and can’t find it anywhere. Was you child recently adopted? If you can find it in the literature could you forward it so I can pass on correct information in the future.

 

[juliakristof]

Your youngest should not have received coverage right away and should have waited 3 months as well. Have never heard of the under 6 month rule and can’t find it anywhere. Was you child recently adopted? If you can find it in the literature could you forward it so I can pass on correct information in the future.

We are confused by what it says on the website:

"
Temporary foreign workers who hold a valid work permit may be eligible for OHIP coverage. The worker must be employed full-time for an employer in Ontario for a minimum of 6 months and :

• Maintain their primary place of residence in Ontario; and
• Be physically present in Ontario for at least 153 days in any 12-month period, and
• Be physically present in Ontario for 153 of the first 183 days immediately after establishing residency in the province"

The part I underlined - does establishing residency mean from the point he got his OWP? We are planning a 2 month trip out of Canada in June 2020 once PA gets PR but we don't want that to jeopardize his OHIP. He got OWP in December 2019.

 

[screech339]

Your youngest should not have received coverage right away and should have waited 3 months as well. Have never heard of the under 6 month rule and can’t find it anywhere. Was you child recently adopted? If you can find it in the literature could you forward it so I can pass on correct information in the future.

No adoption. I was just as surprised as you are as I never found any info allowing anyone under 6 month old immediate access to OHIP either. I asked them why she gotten OHIP right away and that was the response I gotten. Maybe this was an unwritten rule. For whatever reason they gave me, I was not complaining.

 

[canuck78]

No adoption. I was just as surprised as you as I never found any info allowing anyone under 6 month old immediate access to OHIP either. I asked them why she gotten OHIP right away and that was the response I gotten. Not that I was complaining. Maybe this was an unwritten rule that they made internally so they don't get flooded with applicants for under 6 months old.

My guess is an employee who didn’t know the rules. Only a few exceptions to the 3 month rule and being under 6 months isn’t one of them. Just warning others.