So, the issue is that you need to buy a policy that gives you the insurance you need (for the length of time that you need it), so that you meet the IEC visa requirement. There is no standard amount of insurance that you need to buy, but use common sense. A $10,000 or $25,000 coverage amount is most likely not enough. Most people would recommend having at least $50,000 or $100,000 coverage 'just in case'. The amount of money you have to pay can be reduced by about 25% by buying a lower coverage amount and/or using a high deductible (excess), but it's hardly worth the added risk of insufficient coverage.
BestQuote Travel Agency has a one year, $100,000 policy with a $0 deductible for a 29 year old for only $769.20
It would be a little lower than that if you are less than 29. You can purchase it online.
The friends you refer to in Alberta most likely had a one year policy (or longer if Irish or Australian), and cancelled it to get a pro-rated refund once they qualified for provincial health care. Otherwise, if they showed up with only three months of coverage, they would have only received a three month work visa. Unless proof of insurance wasn't asked for. You may not want to risk that.
In Ontario, you can qualify, with an IEC work visa, to go on provincial health care (OHIP) as long as :
"you are a foreign worker who holds a valid work permit or other document issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) permitting you to work in Canada, and you also have a formal agreement in place to work full-time for an employer situated in Ontario which sets out the employer's name, your occupation, and confirmation that you will be working for no less than six consecutive months"
"Temporary foreign workers who hold a valid work permit may be eligible for OHIP coverage. The worker must be employed full-time for an employer in Ontario for a minimum of 6 months and :
Maintain their primary place of residence in Ontario; and
Be physically present in Ontario for at least 153 days in any 12-month period, and
Be physically present in Ontario for 153 of the first 183 days immediately after establishing residency in the province
Document Requirements: In order to satisfy the above criteria, foreign workers applying for OHIP coverage must present their work permit as well as provide documentation confirming their full-time employment in Ontario for a period of at least 6 months."
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/ohip/temp_foreign.aspx
Once you apply for OHIP, there is a 3 month waiting period before benefits begin, so apply as quickly as possible to OHIP, then, as long as your policy allows you to get a partial refund (you can't have any claims on the insurance policy before requesting a refund) when you become covered under provincial health care (some policies will only give a partial refund if you return to home country), then you can drop the extra insurance. (Actually, you are not supposed to do this as the IEC insurance requirement requires you to have 'repatriation' benefits (i.e. to ship a dead body home) and OHIP doesn't provide repatriation). That's what most (budget) travellers do when they have to work around the IEC requirement.
Hope this helps.
