Health coverage in Canada

i can only speak for ontario

there would be no coverage for illegal immigrants, other than emergency care, in which case they would likely be exposed as illegal, there have been abuses of the system with people sharing health cards or counterfeit health cards

people in the country for legitimate reasons, awaiting citizenship, refugees, or seasonal migrant workers are covered

Basically - no.

http://www.settlement.org/sys/faqs_detail.asp?faq_id=4000015

Thank you for that web site for Ontario health care. I have another question - does each province have its own health care option or is there a country wide option or both?

there are some variations in the healthcare provisions and premiums charged by canada's provinces , but they must fall within the provisions of the canada health-act .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada

Beth and dj are essentially right, especially for illegal immigrants.

Generally, if you don’t have status of some sort, you don’t have coverage (in addition to provincial health coverage for permanent residents, convention refugees and citizens, there is such a thing as Interim Federal Health coverage for refugee claimants ), but there are some Community Health Centres that will provide some pro bono work in health care.

One of the links in the site Beth posted will take you to a list of centres, but which ones will see you for free isn’t noted I don’t think (my first look was a quick one and when I went back to be certain I couldn’t even find the right link to follow, but hey, it’s there somewhere. I saw it). You might be able to access health care without a Health Card or IFH by calling around for information…pleading your case.

In some situations, no pleading is necessary. For example, you do not require a Health Card at the Hassle Free Clinic in Toronto to be tested for HIV. It’s free and anonymous.