Health Care Coverage

[tterry0419]

Hi all,

I have another question I am hoping someone with experience or health care knowledge can help me with.

I am currently applying family class Outland for my American wife to come to Manitoba with me. The one hold up is that she is pregnant and we need to move at the end of the month. Can anyone give me a suggestion on where I can find private health care that would cover her while we wait on application approval? Baby is due in January...I am a Canadian citizen so as far as I know, the baby is covered at birth, but what about mom?

Are we up a creek here?

Thanks everyone.

 

[rhcohen2014]

unfortuntaely there is no private health insurance that will cover delivery and maternity costs. It's usually seen as a "pre-existing condition" and excluded from coverage. Generally pr applicants who are pregnant need to pay out of pocket to have a baby in a canadian hospital.

i am not sure about the OHIP rules for manitoba, so i don't know if she could be eligible yet for coverage. You can also check to see if manitoba has any midwifery services. I know in ontario, it's free for anyone in canada, including visitors. the catch is there is a waiting list. I would imagine if manitoba has something similiar, the wait list probably won't be as long.

 

[tterry0419]

Thank you!

 

[rhcohen2014]

also note, that if a midwife is used,you would be charged any fees associated with hospitalization if complications occured during pregnancy and a doctor was required.

 

[tterry0419]

So after doing some digging, I came across a forum post on another site from a few years ago in which the poster claimed one might be able to obtain health coverage through OHIP by providing the following from CIC:

1) passed your medical exam, and 2) received your approval in principle (reached first stage of approval in your PR process).

Has anyone ever heard of this, or of anything like this? Is this even a remote possibility in other provinces? I am quickly coming to the realization that moving back to Canada is likely not in the cards if there is no way of obtaining health insurance. Getting desperate.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

There is no point in looking at OHIP. That is Ontario's health care program and does not apply to other provinces.

Call Manitoba heath care directly.

 

[Becki567]

So after doing some digging, I came across a forum post on another site from a few years ago in which the poster claimed one might be able to obtain health coverage through OHIP by providing the following from CIC:

1) passed your medical exam, and 2) received your approval in principle (reached first stage of approval in your PR process).

Has anyone ever heard of this, or of anything like this? Is this even a remote possibility in other provinces? I am quickly coming to the realization that moving back to Canada is likely not in the cards if there is no way of obtaining health insurance. Getting desperate.

The approved in principal is for inland applications but takes about 11 months to get, so that still will not help you.
Call Manitoba provincial health care. Every province is different. Ontario, IMO, is one of the strictest. We are in Alberta and they did cover my husband while we waited for our application to be approved

 

[tterry0419]

Thanks again for all the responses to this post!

I am thinking that maybe our best bet is to apply inland. My wife will be able to get her open work permit through that, and then be able to apply for Manitoba health once on a work permit. I am thinking this might be our only option. Will take a bit longer, but seems like a no-brainer regarding health coverage. Are there any really legitimate reasons to not apply inland, besides the time of processing?

 

[rhcohen2014]

Thanks again for all the responses to this post!

I am thinking that maybe our best bet is to apply inland. My wife will be able to get her open work permit through that, and then be able to apply for Manitoba health once on a work permit. I am thinking this might be our only option. Will take a bit longer, but seems like a no-brainer regarding health coverage. Are there any really legitimate reasons to not apply inland, besides the time of processing?

DO NOT APPLY INLAND if you wife is from the US! Currently, US applications are getting processed in 5-8 months. by the time your wife gets through stage 1 with inland and gets her work permit, as an outland applicant she would have already been able to land, work legally and start the clock on (if not start receiving) her coverage as a PR. Obtaining health coverage with stage 1 approval is NOT always easy to do and can involve significant effort and untangling of red tape. I would imagine she would also be subject to whatever wait period Manitoba has for eligbility before starting coverage.

Applying inland just to get eligibility for medical coverage makes no sense. If she applied outland, she would get coverage MUCH sooner than if applied inland. The majority of US applicants who apply inland soon regret the decision when they see applicants who applied AFTER them are landing BEFORE them.

 

[tterry0419]

The problem with outland is that we have 0 chance of obtaining any medical coverage for the birth of our child. I guess I don't understand what our options are.

In my mind:

Inland = Longer processing time, open work permit, health coverage
Outland = Quicker processing time, no work eligibility, no health coverage.

Am i missing something? Is there a chance that the work permit will not be approved in time? What are my other options?

Based on what I've read on this forum, we should apply for a temporary resident visa at the border when we cross. Then use an inland application to start the open work permit process. The outland app sounds great but it prevents us from getting the one thing we need....

 

[rhcohen2014]

The problem with outland is that we have 0 chance of obtaining any medical coverage for the birth of our child. I guess I don't understand what our options are.

In my mind:

Inland = Longer processing time, open work permit, health coverage
Outland = Quicker processing time, no work eligibility, no health coverage.

Am i missing something? Is there a chance that the work permit will not be approved in time? What are my other options?

Based on what I've read on this forum, we should apply for a temporary resident visa at the border when we cross. Then use an inland application to start the open work permit process. The outland app sounds great but it prevents us from getting the one thing we need....

yes you are missing something. First of all, US citizens do NOT require a visa to enter. So when she enters, they will ask her how long she wants to stay for and what the purpose of her trip is. She has the "right" to stay up to 6 months, and then before that is up, she applies to extend the visit so she can maintain status during the process. She will never be issued a visa at the border because she is VISA EXEMPT.

Inland - it takes AT LEAST 11 months for stage 1 approval, which at the time her work permit will be issued. So, AFTER 11 months she wil be eligible for health coverage and can apply for jobs.

Outland - it takes 5-8 months by this forums current trends for an applicant to LAND as a PR. This means that it could be as LITTLE as 5 months and up to 12 months (because there are a few that take longer) for her to be legally allowed to work and get health coverage.

Either way, she will need to meet the minimum residency requirments for Manitoba's health coverage. Which means she may not be able to START coverage for specific amount of time (for ottawa it is 3 months).

So when i look at it, i see ABSOLUTELY NO BENEFIT TO APPLYING INLAND. Why would you choose to wait 11 months just to get halfway through the process when you can complete it and start your life much faster?

 

[MilesAway]

The open work permit and health care will still take 11 months, so that does not help you, especially when you consider that some US outland applicants have been approved in 4-6 months recently.

With inland you have a guaranteed 0 chance of medical care.

 

[Ponga]

Unfortunately, I don't believe that either will give you the medical coverage that you need for the delivery of your baby.

Inland processing times are getting `stupid' again, as the processing time for AIP (which is when your wife would be ELIGIBLE for the OWP) is ~ 11 months now. Even then, there may be a waiting period AFTER she has her OWP before she can be deemed eligible for medical care in your Province.

Outland is SUBSTANTIALLY faster for EVERYTHING, but...it's hard to say if she would have her CoPR (and medical) by January, 2015.

If you are still insistent on applying Inland, she can simply come to `visit' you in Canada and immediately submit an OWP with the Inland application, which would give her implied status throughout the process, but...as rhcohen2014 has suggested...Don't do it!!!

Good luck!

 

[Rob_TO]

The problem with outland is that we have 0 chance of obtaining any medical coverage for the birth of our child.

With an 11 month wait time for stage 1/AIP INLAND, unfortunately there is practically zero chance anyway you look at it, to have provincial coverage for pregnancy related issues and for the delivery itself.

As was mentioned earlier, look at the midwife option. Assuming it's similar to Ontario, even visitors can use midwife services for free and overall costs even if midwife helps deliver in a hospital will be significantly cheaper. Only negative thing about them is the waiting lists can be very long depending on your area so often if you don't apply for one as soon as you become pregnant, you're out of luck or stuck on a waiting list.

 

[Ponga]

The open work permit and health care will still take 11 months, so that does not help you, especially when you consider that some US outland applicants have been approved in 4-6 months recently.

With inland you have a guaranteed 0 chance of medical care.

That's not entirely true.

In BC, a person can be covered as soon as their Inland application has been received by CIC. There is a 2 month waiting period (plus the balance of the moth that the application was received).