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

I found 2 cents, so thought I would throw it in.

The red and white cards came out in 92/93,  Before that, it was the old OHIP cards that were family based.  There is no expiry date on the red and white cards.  Back when they first came out, people were getting cards for their cats, dogs and goldfish. 

Then there was the initiative to move to the photo card.  First it was anyone new to OHIP would get the green photo card... then they started a process to switch everyone over to the photo cards and then... guess what happened?  An election.  A new party was in power and decided to suspend re-enrolling everyone to the photo card.  Instead, they decided that with new technology, a new "smart" card would be introduced that would contain a chip with medical history.  This still hasn't come to fruition. 

So why is it so difficult for the Ministry of Health to determine those people who live out of the country?  First, let me ask you... have you moved since you got your old red and white card?  Did you contact the Ministry of Health to give them your new address?  At least 75% of the people don't.  There is no incentive to do this - you don't receive correspondance from them;  it is easily overlooked.  It seems that each ministy has its own unique number that people are known as - be it Health Number, Social Insurance Number, Driver's Licence number, etc.  - there is no common identifier to link any of the numbers to the same person so that information from one ministry to another can be shared.

Sorry... guess I have my System Analyst hat on.  It is well known that Canadian doctor's offices close to the American border have parking lots full of cars with American licence plates. 

Anyway, I don't know if there a simple solution to this dilemna.  I would hope that anyone who fills out an application and puts an American address on the form would be at least questioned.

Sorry for the rant...

Linda

My parents moved here from Germany in their 20's then moved back to Germany 36 years later. In the mean time they became Canadian. The Government is aware they live 3/4 time there and 1/4 year here with me. They do not use OHIP they have insurance that covers them over hear from Germany. I too would have reported them.
JOY as for your son. He needs to go to a lawyer to get an affidavit claiming all of his id has been stolen and that he is who he is and is Canadian. This is what we are advised to tell people who call in reporting their lost/stolen id.

My friend is married to a DOCTOR in the USA, They are both from the Area I was born and raised, however with him getting a scholarship, and getting into harvard, they moved to the USA. They had 4 children, all who were Born in Ontario but lived in the USA, (she made sure of this) just so they could have the health benefits when they moved back, they just kept and address in ontario so there wouldn't be any issues..

i understand why they did it, because they knew that after he was done his education they would move back..

Other people who just take advantage of this is wrong.. it's shocking how many people do it

Wow if this is the case and they dont live in CDN then ya thats just wrong on so many levels. We live here and we want/need to have surgery and they are getting in the way and clogging up our system. Karma sucks so they better be careful.
I do have a question... Do many people get turned down by ohip and if so why do they get turned down?