Health Insurance for new residents

[Lyndagiffen]

Hello,

I am sponsoring my husband in the family class to come to Canada and we are anticipating a move to Ottawa, ON in July this year.
Concerning the 3 months waiting time to be eligible for OHIP, does anyone know of private insurance companies that will cover pre-existing medical conditions?
Thanks for any assistance,
Lynda

 

[zardoz]

Hello,

I am sponsoring my husband in the family class to come to Canada and we are anticipating a move to Ottawa, ON in July this year.
Concerning the 3 months waiting time to be eligible for OHIP, does anyone know of private insurance companies that will cover pre-existing medical conditions?
Thanks for any assistance,
Lynda

A lot will depend on exactly what the pre-existing condition is. I think Manulife do a restricted policy that might be relevant. Google is your friend. For example, http://www.coverme.com/products/travel-visitors-limit.jsp?MKT=MFC

 

[SchnookoLoly]

We used CanadaSure, not sure about pre-existing, but they are one of the most popular companies to use over at BritishExpats.

 

[taffy7]

I was just going to get travel insurance for the 3 months from the U.K. . Will this not work.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

I was just going to get travel insurance for the 3 months from the U.K. . Will this not work.

No, because it's *travel* insurance, and you are not travelling, you are moving. You need insurance that covers you as a RESIDENT of the country where you are. The distinction is very important. You'll need a separate policy to cover this.

 

[bigredmoose]

I was just going to get travel insurance for the 3 months from the U.K. . Will this not work.

It most likely will be fine, Having learned stuff since originally posting this, it probably won't be fine! But when it comes to travel insurance it is mission-critical to:

1)Disclose EVERYTHING. If you hide something and it comes up, even in a tiny way, expect them to deny payment
2)Read EVERYTHING. Read every last word of the policy and understand it's limitations and your responsibilities. For example, you may have a narrow time limit to report an incident to them and the policy may have a cap
3)Believe NOTHING that the agent or salesperson says. NOT. ONE. WORD. If it's not written in the policy it does not exist

And taffy7 makes a good point - make sure the policy covers residency!

See every news story ever about someone having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars despite buying insurance.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

It most likely will be fine, but when it comes to travel insurance it is mission-critical to:

1)Disclose EVERYTHING. If you hide something and it comes up, even in a tiny way, expect them to deny payment
2)Read EVERYTHING. Read every last word of the policy and understand it's limitations and your responsibilities. For example, you may have a narrow time limit to report an incident to them and the policy may have a cap
3)Believe NOTHING that the agent or salesperson says. NOT. ONE. WORD. If it's not written in the policy it does not exist

And taffy7 makes a good point - make sure the policy covers residency!

See every news story ever about someone having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars despite buying insurance.

There is a strong chance it will NOT be fine, actually. One of the terms of any travel insurance policy is that you are in whatever country as a tourist. At least in Ontario, when you register for OHIP, you have to show proof of residency, which also means showing that you are in Ontario as a resident and not as a visitor - you show a COPR document or your work visa or whatever - you show them something that shows that you are a resident and not a tourist.

So based on that, your tourist travel insurance does not apply as you are NOT a tourist by design.

This is why a separate policy is required; policies like those offered by CanadaSure are meant for new immigrants who are in the waiting period between their landing date and the 90 days that it takes for their OHIP or other provincial coverage to kick in. (I believe most, if not all, provinces have a 90 day waiting period.)

 

[taffy7]

Thank you. I just looked on Manulife and its about $494.80 for $100,000. Not sure if that will be enough . I estimated 99 days .. That's coming from the U.K and coming to Ontario for a 53 yr male with no existing conditions. plan B It says for a pre-existing condition that is not stable before the 180 days before the effective date of insurance we will not pay .Oh wow lots to read about what covers you and what don't.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Check out CanadaSure. It's the most common one for Brits.

If you are going to Canada *as a visitor* to wait for COPR, then your travel insurance will be fine for that (just check terms for pre-existing, etc).

Once you have your COPR and do your landing, you are no longer a visitor, and your travel insurance is null and void. You only need a policy to cover you for 90 days. Your 90 day waiting period starts from the day you land, regardless of the time you register with ServiceOntario... so if you land on 15 April, your OHIP will kick in on 15 July, as long as you register with ServiceOntario between 15 April and 15 July.

So do check out CanadaSure. You can buy it once you have your COPR and you know what your landing date is going to be. For my husband, he knew that he would be doing his move in September 2013 (we had landed the previous December but went back to the UK to finish up organizing the move etc). So he bought a policy with CanadaSure in August 2013, put the date he was landing in Canada as a resident as the date to start the policy (12 September 2013), which meant it would end 3 months later, 12 December 2013. He made the trip to ServiceOntario a week or so after landing to sort out his OHIP. Pretty easy.

 

[Rob_TO]

Once you have your COPR and do your landing, you are no longer a visitor, and your travel insurance is null and void.

That is not always true, as it really depends on the policies of the insurance company.
i.e. here is the Kanetix "visitors to Canada" plan. It covers everything from being a visitor, to after landing as PR and in the 3 months waiting. https://www.kanetix.ca/travel-visitors-to-canada
KANETIX provides online visitors to Canada medical insurance quotes for visitors who:
Are tourists planning to travel to Canada for up to a year
Are coming to stay with their family or friends for up to a year
Have moved to Canada and are awaiting coverage under a provincial health insurance plan
Will be working in Canada on a temporary basis

 

[Rob_TO]

I was just going to get travel insurance for the 3 months from the U.K. . Will this not work.

This is not a good idea, since a company based in the UK would most likely assume you are a visitor/traveler to Canada only, not moving there permanently. As such they may require that in the case of any accident/emergency requiring medical treatment, you return back to the UK at first opportunity to continue treatment and eventually get reimbursed for everything. They may not pay anything out until you've returned to the UK. Not saying they're all like this, but you must read the fine print.

Also if you're in Canada, it will be much easier to deal with a Canadian company in the same time zone for calling them, mailing receipts, etc.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

That is not always true, as it really depends on the policies of the insurance company.
i.e. here is the Kanetix "visitors to Canada" plan. It covers everything from being a visitor, to after landing as PR and in the 3 months waiting. https://www.kanetix.ca/travel-visitors-to-canada
KANETIX provides online visitors to Canada medical insurance quotes for visitors who:
Are tourists planning to travel to Canada for up to a year
Are coming to stay with their family or friends for up to a year
Have moved to Canada and are awaiting coverage under a provincial health insurance plan
Will be working in Canada on a temporary basis

Ah yes - that is correc t- I more meant that the standard travel insurance policy from the UK would not be adequate, not that there was no policy at all that would not cover visitor-to-resident status. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[bigredmoose]

+1 for all who pointed out that standard travel insurance is not good enough. My wife and stepson will be landing in a few months and I'm sure we would have bought a regular travel policy. Thanks!

I've also amended my original post above.

 

[taffy7]

Brilliant thanks guys . That's something else off my list ...