Pregnant and no OHIP what are other options

[ruffy11]

Well this is clear that After landing in Toronto have to wait for 90 days for OHIP card.
When I will land in Toronto my wife will be 5 month pregnant, so have to look for other options beside OHIP. In other option we have got midwife service and private insurance for pregnant women. My understanding is that its hard to get private insurance after you get pregnant, so that reduces our option with private insurance. Probably there are few agencies which can provide but that will be expensive. Well from forums it looks midwives are already overloaded so it will be hard to get one. In this worst case scenario I have to find a doctor and have to pay from my pocket for all the services.

First I want to know what is the procedure to find a family doctor and then an obsterics specialist in brampton, ontario area?
Second are there any walk in clinics realted to obsteric and ultrasound where i can just walk in and pay for the services like private doctors?
Third how much that will cost to go for a private dr and where i can look for a private dr?

If somebody has got any better suggestion or had experience, please share
Regards


If anybody else knows some other options available please suggest.

 

[Rob_TO]

My understanding is that its hard to get private insurance after you get pregnant,

It's not hard... it's impossible. You won't find any insurance plan that will cover regular pregnancy/delivery related costs, after you are already pregnant.

Well from forums it looks midwives are already overloaded so it will be hard to get one.

This is your best option. As soon as you land, you need to call every single midwife office in the Toronto area. There are lots of them. Hopefully one can take you on as a client based on your wife's due date, but you are right in that most offices are always fully booked so you may not have any luck.

In this worst case scenario I have to find a doctor and have to pay from my pocket for all the services.

To get an OB you must get a referral from a family doc or walk-in clinic. For a family doctor, you can simply do a search for any accepting new patients in your area. Hopefully they will take you even with no OHIP, it just means you need to pay for all your visits. A trip to a walk-in clinic will probably cost you $75-$100 per visit.

Same with an OB, you will need to pay for each visit and then separately for each ultrasound/bloodwork that you do directly at the lab.

When it comes to the delivery, you should budget around $5,000-$10,000 if you don't have OHIP by then. On the lower end if it's a very simple, regular delivery, and on the high end (and beyond $10K) if there are any complications or need for extended hospital stay.

 

[draviki]

Hello,

saw this post just now. I may be facing similar situation in few months, hence requiring your advice. How did you cope up finally with the visits and the delivery? How much did it cost?
appreciate your reply.

Thanks.

 

[RL11]

Hi there I'm also in a similar situation and want to know how ruffy11 managed everything. If you could help us please.

 

[Nada82]

Same situation here pls...I'm in my 6 months now with perminant residency with no OHIP...any suggestions pls...can we just pay cash with no family doctor if they r all busy and not accepting new patients. Thanks

 

[Tri-Cities]

Just curious:
Have you thought about delivering in your home country where (I'm just guessing) you already part of the health care system? For real, if I would have been in this situation I would have stayed in my country until the babe is born.

Yes, the newborn is a citizen if born here but won't have any impact on your status.

Starting with paying easy 10'000 for only the delivery sounds absolutely crazy to me. You could use that money for better things, trust me.

So again, just curious, why don't you just wait?

??

 

[steaky]

Just curious:
Have you thought about delivering in your home country where (I'm just guessing) you already part of the health care system? For real, if I would have been in this situation I would have stayed in my country until the babe is born.

Or settled in provinces like AB where one can have immediately provincial healthcare.

 

[Tri-Cities]

Lol

Alberta is having a hard time already... I'm waiting to see a change of the so called "free" health care.

Interesting that has been no answer so far - except @steaky

 

[Leon]

Almost all provinces have free healthcare and no waiting period for newcomers. They could go to Saskatchewan or Manitoba instead. However, since healthcare requires 6/12 months for eligibility in these provinces, they'd have to make sure they stay for at least 6 months to avoid possible charges of health care fraud.

 

[Tri-Cities]

Leon, I don't wanna be a smart ass but no health care is free - not paying a monthly premium doesn't mean it's a "for free service". When more and more people use the health care system (fraudently or not) someone has to pay for it.

I am not too sure about how long this system's going to work like it does now. And I expect everyone to think about our health care system and use it in a way which is fair. That way the people (the eldery, the kids, etc) who need it the most will be on the safe side.

I was just wondering, being a mom myself.

Have a great day!!

 

[Leon]

Leon, I don't wanna be a smart ass but no health care is free - not paying a monthly premium doesn't mean it's a "for free service". When more and more people use the health care system (fraudently or not) someone has to pay for it.

I am not too sure about how long this system's going to work like it does now. And I expect everyone to think about our health care system and use it in a way which is fair. That way the people (the eldery, the kids, etc) who need it the most will be on the safe side.

I was just wondering, being a mom myself.

Have a great day!!

Free for the patient, paid for by the tax payer without a doubt but that is true for most of Europe and it's been working just fine for decades. If the health care system is failing, the politicians will have to give it a bigger portion of the tax cake or increase taxes. In some countries, a set percentage of your taxes goes straight to health care.

 

[Tri-Cities]

Well, as a German I can tell you it's not working fine. They are in deep debt, bad bad bad.

It's a good system (unfair here and there) but needs to be updated more often because of all the changes going on all the time.

But I guess at the end of the day it's pretty much the same everywhere - I find the service you get is different...oh well...
And people complain all over the world, even in countries like Canda or Germany.

Take care!!