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

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,587
13,519
What about nurse practitioners? Nurse practitioners visits are not covered by OHIP so you pay out of pocket. It will be very difficult to find an ob/gyn without OHIP as most doctors are maxed out and can only take on OHIP patients.
Nurse practitioners are usually covered by OHIP it just depends on the setting. In GP offices they are starting to be used as a way to bill privately but could also be hired as salaries employee. In certain GP offices they are using NP to try and bill privately as a wait to hopefully exploit a loophole. PTypically they are not trained to provide prenatal care. In remote communities they may work in partnerships with OBs but typically that is not part of their scope of practice.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,587
13,519
We are having hard time finding an obstetrician that would provide prenatal care to my wife without ohip eventhough we pay out of pocket.

We went to a few hospitals in GTA with a referral, they did not accept my wife as a patient. Apparently, you have to be high risk patient to be accepted without ohip. It is unbelievable!!!

I have reached out to midwifes as well but they were not available either.

I cannot find a doctor in my very own country for my pregnant wife!!

Does anyone perhaps know any obstetricians that could accept patients without ohip that willing to pay out of pocket up front? Thank you.
Would start by trying to find a hospital that will accept private pay patients. If they do there is typically one or two doctors that takes the majority of private pay clients. For many without OHIP and typically birth tourism cases women show up in labour without getting prenatal care and the hospital is forced to take you in as a patient because it is an emergency. Whatever doctor is on call delivers the baby. Especially now that getting a TRV for a spouse is much easier people really need to research how difficult and expensive will it be to be pregnant and have to give birth in Canada. One of the major oversights of allowing spouses to arrive on TRVs is that in many provinces they will not qualify for provincial healthcare. If you have any type of medical need it may not make sense to come to Canada before receiving PR.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,587
13,519
Just to be clear, the waiting period referenced is for travel insurance that you'd get for someone not yet eligible for provincial health care. Private insurance through an employer wouldn't really need to cover pregnancy related stuff because provincial health care does cover pregnancy and birth, and insurance via an employer simply tops up provincial health care typically for "extras" like chiro, dental, vision etc. For instance for my family, our private insurance via my husband's job would only be involved in pregnancy/birth if I were given a private room at the hospital because there's coverage for that (reduces the rate from $70 to $10) and that's the only thing that provincial health care doesn't cover fully in the pregnancy/birth. (Of course there aren't actually private rooms in labour and delivery at the local hospital so it's a bit of a moot point here locally.)
What hospital is only charging $70 for a private room. Usually between $500-1000 for a private room if you ask for a private room. If you happen to get one and haven’t asked for on it is free. During weekdays someone will be trying to make sure those with insurance are in the private or semiprivate rooms. Best way to secure yourself a private room in hospital is to be MRSA positive although obviously some drawbacks to that plan. Some of the newer hospitals have only private rooms or more private rooms. Newer hospitals have gotten rid of most ward rooms so usually limited to private or semi-private. Very few ward rooms left for postpartum care. Delivery rooms are always private but you are only in there for active labour and and are moved out soon after you have been stabilized after delivery. There are probably still some ward rooms if you are in hospital for complications or are just starting the induction process so could be 12+ hours before labour starts.
 

colgate1

Star Member
Jul 1, 2023
106
15
Would start by trying to find a hospital that will accept private pay patients. If they do there is typically one or two doctors that takes the majority of private pay clients. For many without OHIP and typically birth tourism cases women show up in labour without getting prenatal care and the hospital is forced to take you in as a patient because it is an emergency. Whatever doctor is on call delivers the baby. Especially now that getting a TRV for a spouse is much easier people really need to research how difficult and expensive will it be to be pregnant and have to give birth in Canada. One of the major oversights of allowing spouses to arrive on TRVs is that in many provinces they will not qualify for provincial healthcare. If you have any type of medical need it may not make sense to come to Canada before receiving PR.
It is good to know that they won't reject you at the hospital when you show up in labour.

There might be cases you mY not in labour though but you may need a c section because of a medical reason. Some woman may need to deliver without being labour.

In this case can you show up at the hospitals labour and delivery triage? Would they take you in?

This is at least what happened to my step sister. But she had ohip. It was prearranged.
 

Canada2020eh

Champion Member
Aug 2, 2019
2,194
887
It is good to know that they won't reject you at the hospital when you show up in labour.

There might be cases you mY not in labour though but you may need a c section because of a medical reason. Some woman may need to deliver without being labour.

In this case can you show up at the hospitals labour and delivery triage? Would they take you in?

This is at least what happened to my step sister. But she had ohip. It was prearranged.
In Canada hospitals will not refuse emergency services to a patient but they will be looking to be paid for their services.
 

andrew3081

Hero Member
Apr 6, 2018
286
76
It is good to know that they won't reject you at the hospital when you show up in labour.

There might be cases you mY not in labour though but you may need a c section because of a medical reason. Some woman may need to deliver without being labour.

In this case can you show up at the hospitals labour and delivery triage? Would they take you in?

This is at least what happened to my step sister. But she had ohip. It was prearranged.
hospitals will take you in even if you don’t have any health care but be prepared to pay a lot.

we were charged $900 for going to hospital and all they did was a small 2 inch stitch.
 

Maybach20

Newbie
Mar 4, 2021
8
0
It is good to know that they won't reject you at the hospital when you show up in labour.

There might be cases you mY not in labour though but you may need a c section because of a medical reason. Some woman may need to deliver without being labour.

In this case can you show up at the hospitals labour and delivery triage? Would they take you in?

This is at least what happened to my step sister. But she had ohip. It was prearranged.
please what did you eventually do? I’m in same situation right now. Was HNUC able to help?
 

colgate1

Star Member
Jul 1, 2023
106
15
please what did you eventually do? I’m in same situation right now. Was HNUC able to help?
Lookup the midwifes in your city. There should be good amount of midwifes available in your area.

I would suggest filling out as many as applications you can. If one of the midwives are available, they may accept you as long as you are considered as a low risk pregnancy.

All the prenatal care including blood work and ultrasounds are free as long as you are a resident on your province and not going back to your home country after giving birth.

You just have to pay hospital fees out of pocket. Hopefully, those fees should not be more than 5000 dollars. Fingers crossed

Good luck.
 

Maybach20

Newbie
Mar 4, 2021
8
0
Lookup the midwifes in your city. There should be good amount of midwifes available in your area.

I would suggest filling out as many as applications you can. If one of the midwives are available, they may accept you as long as you are considered as a low risk pregnancy.

All the prenatal care including blood work and ultrasounds are free as long as you are a resident on your province and not going back to your home country after giving birth.

You just have to pay hospital fees out of pocket. Hopefully, those fees should not be more than 5000 dollars. Fingers crossed

Good luck.
Thank you so much for the response
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,587
13,519
Lookup the midwifes in your city. There should be good amount of midwifes available in your area.

I would suggest filling out as many as applications you can. If one of the midwives are available, they may accept you as long as you are considered as a low risk pregnancy.

All the prenatal care including blood work and ultrasounds are free as long as you are a resident on your province and not going back to your home country after giving birth.

You just have to pay hospital fees out of pocket. Hopefully, those fees should not be more than 5000 dollars. Fingers crossed

Good luck.
Midwives are actually quite rare and usually fully booked. Have had many friends turned away early on into pregnancy. You can try but it will be difficult to find someone in your area with availability.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,587
13,519
Lookup the midwifes in your city. There should be good amount of midwifes available in your area.

I would suggest filling out as many as applications you can. If one of the midwives are available, they may accept you as long as you are considered as a low risk pregnancy.

All the prenatal care including blood work and ultrasounds are free as long as you are a resident on your province and not going back to your home country after giving birth.

You just have to pay hospital fees out of pocket. Hopefully, those fees should not be more than 5000 dollars. Fingers crossed

Good luck.
What is covered does seem to depend where you are living and whether you used services during Covid where most hospitals used Covid funding to not charge anyone for anything. I have seen many uninsured people be charged for lab tests, ultrasounds, etc. any other than midwife care if they can secure a midwife.
 

Maybach20

Newbie
Mar 4, 2021
8
0
Midwives are actually quite rare and usually fully booked. Have had many friends turned away early on into pregnancy. You can try but it will be difficult to find someone in your area with availability.
Exactly, we have reached out to about 7 midwifery agencies in GTA . All said they are booked and put us on waitlist
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,587
13,519
i am on a TRV but my husband is a permanent resident. I have been here for 3 months but my husband has been here for 2 years
This is one of the major flaws allowing spouses to come to Canada during sponsorship. Do you have 15k+? How far are you in your pregnancy and when did you apply for spousal sponsorship?