Pfffff... Did I already mention before that I HATE bureaucracy and laws?
I was just on the phone with the Quebec health insurance and accidentally mentioned that I didn't terminate my dutch health insurance. Since I already gave the woman my SIN and health insurance number, I had to try as hard as I could (in French, so my third language) to convince her that I'm in an impossible situation with regard to health insurance in which I had to choose which laws not to respect fully: either the dutch health insurance law, the quebec health insurance law or the canadian immigration law. Since they just assume that the whole world revolves around their law, they never expect that some laws in other countries might not be compatible with theirs, making life impossible for immigrants.
My situation: I was covered by my dutch health insurance, by immigration law I need to be covered by some health insurance, if I'm no longer covered, I can get kicked out of the country. So I have a nice open work permit, but the dutch health insurance law states that as soon as I work abroad, I must notify the insurance so that the contract can be ended. So I called to ask why. The insurance answered: because the laws says that if you work abroad, you'll get a local health insurance. That works for the European Union, but Québec states that I cannot get a local insurance with an open work permit, even if I work and I want to be insured. Answer: then Québec is wrong, they need to comply with our law. (Doesn't such an answer make you instantly cross-eyed?)
So I never told my insurance that I worked during my stay in Canada (for all they know, I'm just a rich tourist). In order to unsubscribe, I would need proof that I'm subscribed somewhere else.
So I finally am covered by the RAMQ since this month. Just called to check out how things work with the prescription drugs and if I'm covered, so that I'm sure that I can terminate my dutch insurance. So this woman says that I was not allowed to even register with the insurance. Since I had another insurance, they require me to stay subscribed with that one. The RAMQ is only meant for people that can't get any other insurance. So I explained that I can't stay subscribed there. She states that I had to unsubscribe in the Netherlands before subscribing in Québec. So I explain further that I can only unsubscribe if I have proof of subscription somewhere else. So she continues that I should stay subscribed in the Netherlands. So I explain her that I'm already risking being sued for a whole bunch of money if the dutch insurance and government find out I've been working here without telling them. So she says that RAMQ can now sue me for not following their Québec law. So I start explaining all the way from the beginning that I can't please every single law over the world and that these laws force me to breach at least one of them and that I never intended to do that to profit from it, but just to simply be able to be covered at all by some insurance and not running into trouble in my own medical situation. Pfffffff.... After 15 minutes she finally understood.
Dealing with governments is exhausting!