My left hand was drenched in blood while I was scrolling through my laptop screen with my right hand to download my health insurance.
But the website told me my health insurance was not there.
Having lived here as an international student for two years, this was the first time I had a serious injury. I was about to have dinner when I dropped a plate and pieces cut into my left arm.
With the hope that my old health insurance would work, I sat in the car with my cousin putting cotton on my arm to stop the blood.
I was taken to the emergency ward of the hospital because I was losing blood.
While waiting for my turn, I called the insurance company about my health insurance card not being available.
“It’s because your college hasn’t sent the list of currently enrolled students,” the lady on the phone told me.
I was shocked because I had always heard that international students are covered by the college. Indeed, international students are covered from the first day of school
With a ray of hope my old health insurance would work, I went to the counter when it was my turn.
“You will have to pay $850 before seeing the doctor,” the nurse at the counter told me.
I tried to tell them I was an international student covered by insurance.
They told me that I would need to make the payment and send the receipt to insurance so they could pay me later. As an international student, I couldn’t afford to pay such a large amount just for dressing a wound.
Currently, many international students are struggling with their finances.
I returned home with my injured arm and decided to visit a local clinic the next day.
The next day I paid $95 at a local clinic and the doctor did my dressing.
Thankfully, I didn’t require stitches but I can’t even imagine the situation if I had an even more serious injury.
Will they not let me see the doctor just because my college didn’t send the list even though I paid my tuition on time? I thought about this while traveling back home.
Just six days after this incident, I received an email from the college indicating my health insurance was ready to download.
I got this email three weeks into this program. I wonder how Humber could be so careless when it’s about the safety of international students.
Even after paying full tuition, which is four times the tuition paid by domestic students, we have to struggle with basic health insurance coverage. I needed Humber in a crisis, and it let me down.