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Canadian passport does not give you free healthcare; it is completely unconnected with citizenship. Health care, like most thing, is the responsibility of the
by sdm 10y ago
Canadian passport does not give you free healthcare; it is completely unconnected with citizenship.
Health care, like most thing, is the responsibility of the provincial governments. You have to be a resident of a province for a period of time, usually 6 months, to get free healthcare in that province. Provinces do cover out of province travel and some limited international travel though usually not the US -- but that all varies by province.
If you are a non-resident Canadian citizen, you will not be covered and have to pay full even if you are treated in Canada. For example, if you move to the Bay area for work, go home at christmas and break your leg, you will be out of pocket the total costs.
However, if you a resident non-citizen (i.e., PR, TFW, Student), you will be covered after your residency is established.
- raverbashing 10y agoIt's 3 months for Quebec and 153 days for Ontario http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ohip/ http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ohip/
- codexjourneys 10y agoWhat happens to you if you move and then get in a terrible accident? Does your former province cover you during this in-between residency establishment phase? Do you need to move back to your old province (or be moved back) before the waiting period expires? Or are you completely SOL?
- raverbashing 10y agoI'm not sure, I think that in the specific case of an inter-province move you're still covered by the older province Or you get a separate private insurance if you're coming into Canada to stay I suspect that even without any coverage you're not SOL because of things like the mandatory insurance that vehicles must have
- codexjourneys 10y agoOkay, I figured there must be some provision for movers but was unwilling to assume - so the old province would cover me if I had some incident in the new province (car accident, heart attack, mega food poisoning, whatever)...
- eps 10y agoPrecisely. Either you are a resident who pays taxes and gets health care coverage or you are non-resident with no tax obligations and no health care coverage. There's no free lunch.