Ok - so is this fair? (when I paid for mine)??

Somone I know posts this on her wall on facebook today:

Well over a year and a half I got my doctor to refer me to have a gastric bypass..today sitting in the waiting room at the Ottawa Hospital talking with other people waiting to get in..I was the only Canadian living here..the rest live full time in the states and have kept their OHIP cards to get free health care..due to OHIP covering this there is another year wait....OMG!


Is this legal?

Wow......they don't live in Canada but are getting FREE surgeries and I paid in order to get the one I wanted????

Ruth

Hi Ruth;

Is it legal, I have no idea. Is it fair, no it is not! If you take up residence in another country, then get everything done there. After all you get everything else there, lodging, food, etc;.

The waiting time is very long and getting longer all the time. It is on a first come first serve basis. Some people are actually dying waiting on this surgery. This entire wait time in Ontario is getting very poor reviews in the news media as of late, there was an article on this very subject this morning in a local Ottawa paper.

For people to be boasting about this on a social media site like face book is a bit much and in very poor taste. Not that I don't think that everyone in need of this surgery should not be getting it but please, let the people in Ontario, then Canada get this surgery first then go on to other countries if the need is there. Canadians living in this country should be at the top of the list.

This is just my opinion of course.

Cheers

Hi - what area paper?  I would like to read the article.
Guess I better explain myself a little better :)   ......
the person who wrote this on facebook is upset - she was sitting waiting at Ottawa Hospital today and she was the only one who was Canadian sitting there - the rest were there with, I guess what you would call, fraudulent OHIP cards.  She is upset that she has to wait another year - perhaps due to these nonCanadians getting in sooner.

I truly can't see how it is legal.  It should be stopped.  Yes, I still am Miss Sour Grapes, but I forked out a lot of $ when I appealed OHIP's denial and then for my self pay DS (which I never regret having, and never will) - but if I had to pay to get what I wanted and needed, so be it, but frig, these others should not be getting theirs free of charge?!

Ruth

It was on the front page of the Metro paper in Ottawa today.
http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/938306--obituar y-sparks-wait-list-debate

My understanding is that, if you leave the province for 6 months or more, you lose health care.  I know my grandmother moved out west and kept OHIP for 6 months here and then was eligible for health care in BC (because she had lived THERE for 6 months).

They would have to maintain a legal residence in Ontario I'd think - wouldn't be that hard to do I guess.  But I wouldn't be broadcasting it - I'm pretty sure it's fraud and they could be charged.

Then again, I see people on ODSB going to Vegas and Hawaii....gives the rest of us who follow the rules a bad name...

Thanks, Erica.  I would think it is fraud, too.  Now, I think the rules are 3 months.  My husband's uncle lived with us for awhile after coming from Quebec and he had to show proof of residence here for 3 months and then he was covered by OHIP.

Sounds like these folks had the OHIP cards and then just keep using them when in Canada.  It shouldn't be hard for OHIP to trace these folks...

Yeah, off to Vegas and Hawaii......imagine.....that is the life, eh?

R

The rule is 6 months for leaving the country. That's how the people who fly south for the winter keep their OHIP here. They maintain a permanent residence here.   It sucks but there's nothing we can do about it.  They must maintain a permanent residence here.  That's the rules.  They are just as entitled to any surgery/medical care as we are.  It's the same thing when they come back here for cancer treatment or anything else.  

Thanks for the clarification re the 6 months.  I am only getting this 2nd hand from someone else, but she states they do not live here in Canada - that they have just kept their old Red and White cards and live in the States.  If that is the case, then that is wrong.

If they had a permanent residence here in Canada, then I would understand.  I am just not getting that impression, I could be wrong.

R

I think that's the crock with those red and white cards.  With the new cards, you need to prove residency every 3 years or whatever...with 2000 pieces of ID when you renew (ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it sure seemed harder to renew my OHIP card than my passport!).

Those old red and white - well you could use someone else's card technically - since they have no picture or anything!

If it was me in the waiting room - I would have mentioned to the nurse/receptionist that those people were bragging about being US residents and your concern that their cards were fraudulent.  Better yet, next time, keep her cell phone running on a video record mode... ;0)