Enrolling in the health and hospitalization insurance plan for international students

For new international applicants, the insurance takes effect when you arrive in Québec and, at the earliest, from:

• August 15th for the fall semester
• December 15th for the winter semester
• April 15th for the summer semester

If you plan to arrive:

• in Québec before the dates mentioned above

OR

• in a Canadian province other than Québec and stay there before you arrive in Québec

Then it is your responsibility to do the following:

• Ensure that you are adequately covered until the insurance coverage with Université Laval takes effect (if you are covered by one of the reciprocal agreements giving access to the RAMQ (Québec's public health insurance plan), your RAMQ coverage may start earlier - see details below);
• Take out comprehensive travel-health insurance and emergency medical insurance for the duration of your journey until you arrive in the province of Québec.

The health and hospitalization insurance fees will appear on your electronic tuition fee invoice.

Cost for the 2024-2025 academic year:

• Coverage for regular students
  September 1st to August 31st: $1,068
  January 1st to August 31st: $712
  May 1st to August 31st: $356
• Coverage for visiting (exchange) students
  Cost per semester: $356
  The insurance is billed each semester. For example, if you are coming for two semesters, you will receive two separate invoices of $356 each.
• Coverage for training or research interns
  Cost per month: $89
  The insurance is renewed and billed each semester as long as you stay. For example, if you are coming for two semesters, you will receive two separate invoices.

Sometime during the first few weeks after you enrol at Université Laval, you will receive an email from the Registrar’s Office with the insurance policy number and your personal certificate number that our insurer (Desjardins) issues to you. Desjardins health and hospitalization insurance takes effect as indicated above. Once you are in Québec and after the scheduled date, your coverage starts even if you haven’t received your personal certificate number yet.

With this information, you will be able to access your virtual membership card (also known as a payment card) through the Desjardins member site or through the Desjardins mobile app. You will also have access to phone numbers in case of a medical emergency.

Documents to read:

• Desjardins online services (PDF)
• Your payment card (PDF)

The insurance coverage is individual and does not include dependants. Any accompanying family members must also have adequate insurance coverage for the duration of their stay in Canada.

Minor children (17 years old or younger) of international students may be eligible for health insurance and prescription drug insurance coverage (Québec’s public plan—RAMQ) provided they are present in Québec for more than 6 months a year. Registration is done online on the Québec government’s website. Contact the RAMQ within 15 days of your child arriving in Québec so coverage can start as soon as they arrive.

For your non-eligible family members (for example, children aged 18 or over and your spouse), you can get insurance coverage for your family members through Desjardins Insurance too. For more information, see Visitors to Canada Insurance and other private health insurance.

Your Desjardins health and hospitalization insurance coverage is valid from the policy start date until August 31 of the same academic year if you register for courses or other educational activities for the fall and winter semesters. Most study programs don’t require you to register for courses during the summer semester.

If you don’t register for courses, you won’t be covered by Desjardins’ health and hospitalization insurance anymore unless your program director approves your leave of absence and the Registrar’s Office has been notified. If your program director doesn’t approve your leave of absence, you will need to take out private health insurance for the semester when you will be absent and for the following summer (if applicable).

Your Desjardins health and hospitalization insurance coverage is automatically renewed if you register for courses or other educational activities. You don’t need to take any action. The Registrar’s Office will contact you by email.

We recommend that you carefully read the Desjardins Insurance policy to make sure all your needs are covered. If in doubt, contact Desjardins Insurance. Before undertaking a major expense, such as an operation, you must read the terms and conditions of the insurance policy (link below), contact Desjardins Insurance to determine whether the costs will be reimbursed, and have the insurer pre-approve it. Operations are not always covered by insurers. 

If Desjardins insurance does not cover or only partially covers certain treatments, find out whether you have supplemental insurance, through ASEQ (see below) or your employer, for example. You can also take out additional insurance if you have other specific needs, such as pre-existing health conditions.

• Your mandatory group insurance plan (PDF)
• Online services for members (PDF)
• How to submit a claim (PDF) - Make sure that your care bill specifies the reasons and the nature of the care received
• Frequently asked questions (PDF)

Some international students may be exempt from the Université Laval health insurance plan. If the Québec government has signed reciprocal social security agreements with your home country (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Sweden), you may be eligible for coverage under the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec [Québec’s public health insurance plan] (RAMQ).

To qualify for benefits under these agreements, you have to take certain steps before you leave your home country and when you arrive in Québec.

• Before you leave, contact your home country’s healthcare organization to find out whether you are covered by the social security agreement and to get the necessary document that is, proof that you are enrolled in your home country's social security plan or health care benefits.
• Once you arrive in Québec, you must registrer with the RAMQ. You can only do this online. You must then provide your proof of RAMQ enrolment to the Registrar’s Office. See all the details below in the “Steps to take” section.

Coverage with the RAMQ for students covered under reciprocal social security agreements with certain countries begins only when you arrive in Québec. If you take all the right steps to enrol in the RAMQ as soon as you arrive in Québec, your RAMQ coverage should be retroactive back to the day you arrived in Québec, depending on the date indicated on your attestation form. Because of this, you don’t have to take out private insurance while your application is being processed.

If you plan to arrive in a Canadian province other than Québec and stay there before you arrive in Québec, it is your responsibility to take out comprehensive travel-health insurance and emergency medical insurance for the duration of your journey until you arrive in the province of Québec.

International students enrolled in a regular program who are eligible for the RAMQ can also take out supplemental health insurance through their student association with ASEQ. Visit the section "Supplemental health insurance with ASEQ" for more information.

To learn more about the reciprocal social security agreements established with Québec, visit those websites:

• General information for all countries involved
• Additional information for France

Before your departure for Québec, you must obtain the document proving your affiliation in your country’s social security program.

Once in Québec, you must complete the online RAMQ registration form. See the RAMQ’s 5 essentials for registering for health insurance online. When required to provide a Québec phone number, it is also possible to provide an international number as long as long-distance calls can be made to reach you, since the RAMQ does not use instant messaging such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, Messenger, etc. You will also need to submit the following documents in PDF or JPEG format. Make sure your documents are legible before sending them.

• Québec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) (attestation of issuance), except for students who are exempt (program of less than six months).
• Passport identification page or study permit.
• Affiliation certificate form for your country’s social security program including seal (reciprocity agreement form).
• Confirmation of registration: proof of full-time enrollment to be ordered from monPortail ($8) once you have registered for the current semester. This document is not required for visiting (exchange) students who have form SE-401-Q-106. You do not have to provide your offer of admission from Université Laval.

Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt from the RAMQ. If you have not received it, please check your spam filter. Applications may take up to 60 business days to process. Do not file a new application even if your first application is processed late. To meet the deadlines for submitting your proof of coverage to the Registrar’s Office (see below), you must apply to the RAMQ as soon as you arrive in Québec.

Your RAMQ enrolment confirmation and your RAMQ card will be mailed to you in two separate envelopes to the address provided in the online registration form. Ensure that you provide an accurate and complete address, including the apartment or room number if applicable, and that it will remain valid for a few months at least.

If you have obtained a room at the Université Laval Residences but you don’t know your room number yet, you can use this address temporarily: 2255, rue de l’Université, guichet 1604, Québec (Québec)  G1V 0A7. 

Ensure that you inform the RAMQ if you move. To notify the RAMQ of a change of address, you have 2 options:

• Contact the RAMQ at 418 646-4636 (in the Québec region) or at 1 800 561-9749 and select Option 3, then Option 1.
• Use the Service québécois de changement d’adresse, if you have a social insurance number. 

Once you have received the «Confirmation de votre droit au régime d’assurance maladie du Québec» (confirmation of your right to the Québec health insurance plan) letter, you must submit it to the Registrar’s Office at assurances@reg.ulaval.ca.

Here are the deadlines for submitting this letter:

• Fall Semester: September 30
• Winter Semester: January 31
• Summer Semester: May 31

If you do not provide the letter by the required deadline, the billing for the Desjardins health and hospitalization insurance will remain in effect and the Registrar’s Office will contact you.

If you are under 18 years old and from a country that has not signed a reciprocal agreement with Quebec, you may be eligible for RAMQ coverage if you have a residence authorization valid for more than 6 months (Certificat d'acceptation du Québec [Québec acceptance certificate] (CAQ) and study permit). You must take the necessary steps with the RAMQ to obtain coverage. Contact the RAMQ for more information. You must send your RAMQ enrolment confirmation letter to assurances@reg.ulaval.ca before the end of the semester to have your Desjardins insurance withdrawn.     

From the age of 18, you will automatically benefit from Desjardins health and hospitalization insurance. The Registrar's Office will send you an email to this effect once your RAMQ has expired.   

Minor children (17 years old or younger) of international students may be eligible for health insurance and prescription drug insurance coverage (Québec’s public plan—RAMQ) provided they are present in Québec for more than 6 months a year. Registration is done online on the Québec government’s website. Contact the RAMQ within 15 days of your child arriving in Québec so coverage can start as soon as they arrive.

Other family members may also be eligible for the RAMQ if they are allowed to stay in Canada (work permit, study permit, or visitor record) and are listed on your reciprocal agreement form (except spouses of students from Greece). Dependent children between the ages of 18 and 25 may also be eligible of conditions are met. The registration of family members is done online, on the Québec government’s website. An enrolment application must be completed for each family member.

For your non-eligible family members, you must arrange private health insurance.

If you are of French nationality and are taking courses in a regular study program (Form SE-401-Q-102), you must annually confirm to the RAMQ that you are studying full time. Each year, you will receive by mail a form from the RAMQ that you must complete and return to the RAMQ. You, therefore, must keep your mailing address up to date with the RAMQ. To change your address, you must contact the RAMQ at 418 646-4636 (in the Québec region) or at 1 800 561-9749 and select Option 3, then Option 1.

There are other exemptions, such as those for the following students:

• recipients of scholarships from a Canadian organization (for example: CMA, CFSP, CBIE, ICCS or Mitacs)
• recipients of scholarships from an international organization (for example: OAS, governments, or the World Bank)
• refugees in Canada (the Interim Health Program or the RAMQ)
• children of a parent who works for a Canadian diplomatic mission
• children of a parent who works for an international organization (for example: the World Bank, African Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, or European Union)

If you think you may fall under one of these exemptions, write to assurances@reg.ulaval.ca. Having private insurance does not mean that you are exempt from getting Desjardins health and hospitalization insurance.

Your RAMQ coverage or any other health and hospitalization insurance coverage that Université Laval accepts is valid until the date indicated on your insurance confirmation letter. If your insurance coverage ends during the semester, we will be required to enrol you in Desjardins’ health and hospitalization insurance for when you don’t have coverage. We will be required to bill you for this coverage. It is your responsibility to provide us with evidence that your health and hospitalization insurance has been renewed before the end of the semester (if applicable).

If certain conditions are met, you may be able to renew your RAMQ coverage. To do this, you need to have first received your new Certificat d’acceptation du Québec (CAQ – Québec acceptance certificate).

ASEQ is supplemental insurance, meaning that it covers certain expenses that are not covered by your main insurance. This means that you also need primary insurance to cover things like hospitalization and certain appointments (see the section on Desjardins Insurance and possible exemptions, such as coverage by the RAMQ, above for more information). The same is true for your family members.

ASEQ supplemental insurance is only available if you have valid basic insurance. This means that if your basic insurance is not active because you are arriving in Canada in a province other than Québec, the supplemental insurance (ASEQ) will not be active either. What’s more, if your basic insurance does not cover the entire duration of a trip, the travel insurance sometimes included with ASEQ will not cover it either. Similarly, if a pre-existing health condition is not covered by your basic insurance, your supplemental insurance will not cover it.

In essence, supplemental insurance acts as a second insurance policy. For example, if your basic insurance reimburses you for 80% of the cost of a treatment or medication, you can apply to your supplemental insurance to cover the remaining 20%. To do this, you will need to start by filing a claim with your basic insurance provider. After that, regardless of whether your claim was accepted, you can file a claim with your supplemental insurance provider, including proof of your first claim.

Many employers offer their employees and family members supplemental insurance coverage that may resemble or differ from what is provided by ASEQ. If that is the case for you, it is a good idea to check what coverage best suits your needs.

Students enrolled in a Université Laval regular program are automatically covered with supplemental dental insurance through their student association (CADEUL or ÆLIES) in collaboration with the Alliance pour la santé étudiante au Québec [Québec student health alliance] (ASEQ) and Desjardins Insurance. They have the option of cancelling it (before a certain deadline). The dental insurance plan includes “Conversation” (mental health and well-being), AlloDoc! (virtual health care), and, for CADEUL members only, a legal protection program.

This insurance is not open to exchange students.

It is important not to confuse this supplemental insurance with the Université Laval basic insurance from Desjardins Insurance. This supplemental insurance is not Université Laval’s responsibility. Visit the ASEQ student association health insurance website for more information (in French only).

Supplemental health insurance is offered to certain students through their student association (CADEUL or AELIES), in collaboration with ASEQ and Desjardins Insurance. It is not mandatory, but rather complementary to basic insurance (RAMQ or the Université Laval group health and hospitalization insurance plan administered by Desjardins Insurance). It includes certain vision care, paramedical services, and travel insurance. 

It is important not to confuse this supplemental insurance with the Université Laval basic insurance from Desjardins Insurance. This supplemental insurance is not Université Laval’s responsibility. Visit the ASEQ student association health insurance website for more information (in French only).

Undergraduate (bachelor’s degree, certificate, etc.)

People enrolled in a regular undergraduate program at Université Laval are automatically covered by this supplemental health insurance, whether their basic insurance is through the RAMQ or the Université Laval group health and hospitalization plan administered by Desjardins Insurance. You may opt out of this insurance, though deadlines apply. 

This insurance is not open to exchange students.

Graduate (master’s degree, specialized graduate diploma, doctorate, etc.)

People enrolled in a regular graduate program at Université Laval who are covered by the RAMQ can enroll in this supplemental health insurance. Enrollment is neither mandatory nor automatic; you must enroll yourself if you are interested in this insurance. Please note that deadlines apply. The health insurance is complementary to the RAMQ. 

Graduate students whose basic insurance is provided through the group health and hospitalization insurance provided by Desjardins Insurance are not eligible for this supplemental insurance.

This insurance is not open to exchange students.

This table provides a summary of insurance coverage. Be sure to double-check your coverage, conditions, and exemptions before seeking non-urgent care. Your insurance may reimburse only 50% or 80%, not 100%, of the cost of certain services, or there may be a maximum annual limit or deductible.

Helpful link: Healthcare covered by the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec