Newcomers sucked into health care vacuum

Immigrants don't get breaks

by Stephanie O'Hanley

Most Quebecers wouldn't think twice about health care costs if their
child got sick. But if you're a new immigrant, a temporary worker or
find yourself without immigration status, a child's hospitalization -
or your own - can mean an impossible-to-pay debt.

Manuel
Vergara had only recently arrived in Canada and didn't have health
insurance when his daughter complained of stomach pains. Then her
appendix ruptured. Though Vergara's daughter was hospitalized in 2003,
the family faces a bill of more than $18,000.

Since 2001 all permanent residents and temporary workers arriving in Quebec (exceptagricultural
workers, who are covered by medicare) have had to wait three months
from their declared arrival before they can be covered by public health
insurance. Workers under the Live-In Caregiver Program face the
regulation every time they need a new visa (for instance, if they
change employers). And that has Project Genesis, the Immigrant Workers
Centre, PINAY and the South Asian Women's Community Centre, along with
a slew of other supporting groups, asking the Quebec government to
abolish the controversial regulation.

The groups estimate
between 50,000 and 75,000 people lack access to health care in Quebec.
Eighty-four per cent of people affected by the regulation are
immigrants or temporary workers, says Rachel Heap-Lalonde of Project
Genesis.

"It [the regulation] encourages people to delay
seeking care," says Jill Hanley of the Immigrant Workers Centre. A
doctor may have spotted appendicitis had Vergara's daughter been seen earlier. "It cost medicare more than if she had [received] treatment earlier," Hanley says.

The
Quebec government expects new immigrants and temporary workers to get
private health insurance during the three-month waiting period. But
private insurance companies often reject such applications, says
Heap-Lalonde.

What's more, "When you come here you have to pay
a few thousand dollars and pass a health test," she says. Since people
don't have a lot of savings and are saving money to send to relatives
back home, "they don't have a lot of money for insurance."

Retrieved on Monday, November 17 from http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=12976