Can I apply for Health Card in Ontario during soft landing

[rimmigrate]

I will be doing soft landing (for 4-5 days in November) and going to move finally after 4-5 months. Can I apply for Health Card while I am there in November or do I need to wait for 3 months from April?

 

[Rob_TO]

I will be doing soft landing (for 4-5 days in November) and going to move finally after 4-5 months. Can I apply for Health Card while I am there in November or do I need to wait for 3 months from April?

No, you need to wait until after you return for good. You can apply for the card anytime after returning in April, but as you noted you won't start getting OHIP coverage until 3 months after that.

 

[Leon]

I will be doing soft landing (for 4-5 days in November) and going to move finally after 4-5 months. Can I apply for Health Card while I am there in November or do I need to wait for 3 months from April?

In order to be eligible for health care in Ontario, you need to stay in Ontario for at least 5 months out of the next 6 after you apply and since you will not be doing that, you will not be eligible to apply until you return in April.

If you leave Ontario for a long time, you are also obligated to tell the health insurance. After qualifying your first 6 months by staying 5 months, you need to stay in Ontario at least 5 out of every 12 months to keep your coverage.

 

[smk_ujs]

Hey Leon,

Just a quick question! what if some one lands in Ontario and has made the permanent move there. He applies for OHIP, and waits for 3 months and gets the health card. Then, uses the health card and in the fourth month finds a job in another province. What happens in that case?

I mean this is fairly common that when immigrants move to ON, they are not really sure where they will be able to find a job. What happens if in the fourth month after using your healthcard for doc visits or emergencies, you now have to move because you found a job in another province? What happens in that case?

 

[Leon]

Hey Leon,

Just a quick question! what if some one lands in Ontario and has made the permanent move there. He applies for OHIP, and waits for 3 months and gets the health card. Then, uses the health card and in the fourth month finds a job in another province. What happens in that case?

I mean this is fairly common that when immigrants move to ON, they are not really sure where they will be able to find a job. What happens if in the fourth month after using your healthcard for doc visits or emergencies, you now have to move because you found a job in another province? What happens in that case?

One of the conditions of health care is notifying them if you move. If you move without having spent 5/6 months in Ontario, OHIP could retroactively cancel your OHIP based on not meeting the eligibility requirements and back charge you for what they paid for you.

I don't know if this happens in many cases but there was a woman on this forum a couple of years ago who said that this very thing happened to her in BC. She had landed in BC, applied for MSP and gotten her health card after the waiting period. She gave birth to a baby shortly after that and ended up leaving Canada after a total of 5.5 months. She continued paying her BC health care premiums because she was fully intending to return but as MSP realized that she was paying from outside Canada, they waited for her to be in breach of her eligibility requirements which back then was 6/12 months or 6 months in a calendar year or whatever and when it was obvious she could no longer meet them, they retroactively cancelled her health care and notified her that because she breached the eligibility, it was like if she'd never had MSP in the first place. They therefore sent her a bill for $43,000 for the birth of the baby although they subtracted from the bill the health care premiums she had already paid. She was in shock. She asked them how can it cost $43,000 to have a baby because it was a normal birth, nothing out of the ordinary and they said that the hospitals bill MSP differently (more) than self-payers and they were simply passing on to her the bills that MSP had paid on her behalf. I told her to try to talk to the BC Ombudsman and ask if there was anything they could do. I don't know if she did because she did not stick around to tell us.

In any case, be advised that when you apply for health care, you are making a contract of sorts and it's up to you to read the conditions of this contract and abide by the rules. It's all on the application form so you can not say later that you did not know. You can admit that you signed without reading but that would be your fault and not theirs.

 

[smk_ujs]

and so in that case, in order to fulfill the eligibility, what if that woman stayed the whole 6 months and then notified them that she wants to cancel as she wanted or had to move back. Would that have changed things for her?

In other words if a new immigrant moves to a province with the intention of moving and lives there 6 months and then has to leave, if he/she has used health care, would he/she still be back charged when he/she calls to cancel?

 

[Leon]

and so in that case, in order to fulfill the eligibility, what if that woman stayed the whole 6 months and then notified them that she wants to cancel as she wanted or had to move back. Would that have changed things for her?

In other words if a new immigrant moves to a province with the intention of moving and lives there 6 months and then has to leave, if he/she has used health care, would he/she still be back charged when he/she calls to cancel?

If she had met the eligibility requirements, they would not be able to cancel her health care retroactively. If she just wanted to move and said so, they could cancel it from then on.

 

[smk_ujs]

What does retroactively cancelling health care exactly mean?

 

[smk_ujs]

right, if she said she wanted to move and they cancelled it, they would not backcharge her as she had obtained benefits for the period she was eligible for. is that correct?

I mean this is a general question for any one, not about her

 

[Leon]

What does retroactively cancelling health care exactly mean?

Cancelling back in time as if you never had it. In that case, the province can say when you sign up for health care that eligibility is staying 6/12 months or whatever and if you do that once but later fail to, they can cancel your health care normally based on when you failed to be eligible. However, if you never stay 6/12 months, they can say that you were never eligible in the first place, cancelling your health care back in time and making you pay back what they paid for you. That is how MSP could charge that woman for having a baby. If she would have stayed in BC a bit longer, her coverage would have been fine. However, because she didn't have 6 months, they said she was never eligible in the first place meaning it was as if she never had coverage.

right, if she said she wanted to move and they cancelled it, they would not backcharge her as she had obtained benefits for the period she was eligible for. is that correct?

I mean this is a general question for any one, not about her

If she had met the eligibility requirements and then wanted to move after that, then they would not back charge her.