In Quebec, approximately 50,000 people do not have access to health insurance coverage due to their precarious immigration status, according to an estimate by the SHERPA University Institute.<\/p>\n
Among them are women like Paula, for whom pregnancy turned into a nightmare. Paula lives, works, pays taxes in Quebec, but she is awaiting sponsorship, which does not allow her access to care covered by the R\u00e9gie de l'assurance maladie du Qu\u00e9bec (RAMQ). The joy of the first moments with her baby quickly turned into anxiety. How to pay for each clinic or emergency visit when living on minimum wage and already supporting a family? How to gather $10,000 for the deposit required before childbirth? How to pay off debts linked to a delivery billed three times more\u2014up to $20,000 or even more?<\/p>\n
Recognizing this critical situation following the adoption of Bill 83, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dub\u00e9, mandated an interministerial working group led by the RAMQ to identify potential solutions for pregnant women without health coverage. However, the right to health for women should not be limited to the time when they are pregnant. They must also have access to other essential sexual and reproductive health services they need throughout their lives: family planning, abortion, gender-based violence, prevention, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted and blood borne infections (STBBIs), and reproductive system cancers.<\/p>\n
Each year, nearly 300 migrant women\u2014pregnant or not\u2014without health coverage or the means to pay for care, present in a critical situation at the M\u00e9decins du Monde Clinic in Montreal. This was the case for Angelina, a 54-year-old woman from Grenada who had lived and worked in Canada for 30 years without status as a domestic helper. In 2019, she was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer, which took her life two years later. She would still be alive if she had been able to receive care in time.<\/p>\n
These women are therefore even more disenfranchised. They bear a disproportionate economic and social burden that impacts other determinants of their health, such as access to housing, healthy food, and social inclusion, in addition to having repercussions on public health. For example, the risk of development and spread of infectious diseases and STBBIs.<\/p>\n