Consult a Doctor in Quebec Without a Public Medical Insurance Card
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This guide is there to help patients without a health insurance card in Quebec consult a doctor quickly at a reasonable price.
Clinics
Access
If you are in Montreal, Doctr allows you to book an appointment in a clinic directly from its mobile application or website.
Appointments last 15 to 20 minutes and there is little waiting time when you arrive. If you need to consult again, you will see the same Doctor. This is the ideal situation in Quebec.
In the rest of Quebec, Clinics mainly care for its registered patients. Some will accept you as a patient without a health insurance card. Others will refuse and tell you that they are not accepting new patients. If you are looking for a quick and easy consultation, go to the Super-Clinic section.
Costs
The cost of a consultation varies from $120 to $400 depending on the clinic. In Quebec, doctors can charge any price for patients without a health insurance card.
Expats can make an appointment via the Doctr platform to get an appointment the next day with negotiated prices.
Book an Appointment in Montreal
Walk-in clinics
Some clinics offer walk-ins. Consultations last from 5 to 10 minutes and there is usually a 1 hour waiting time upon arrival. Some clinics use the Bonjour-Santé service to allow you to book a place, but you need a health insurance card. Therefore, You will have to call the clinic to request a place and insist that you do not have a health insurance card.
Private Clinics
The private clinic operates in the same way as a public clinic. However, it is not affiliated with the government and even Quebeckers must pay for a consultation.
These clinics charge an annual registration or subscription fee ranging from $50 to $100. The price of the consultations varies from $200 to $400.
Online clinic
Access
The online clinic will ask you to complete a form to verify that your condition is eligible for an online consultation. If this is the case, you will have to wait 10 to 15 minutes and meet the doctor via videoconference.
Costs
The cost of a consultation starts at $49 (99$ in Quebec).
Consult a Doctr Online (via Doctr)
Super Clinics
Access
The Super Clinic must :
- Be open 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, except in exceptional cases
- Give any patient the opportunity to make an appointment for the next day as early as 3 hours before the closure of the Super Clinic if all the consultation periods posted for the day are filled.
You will wait one hour in the clinic upon arrival and the consultation will last between 5 to 10 minutes. The doctor will focus on a few symptoms and treat only one problem. This is an accelerated consultation; the doctor’s behaviour may surprise you.
Costs
Due to the short duration of the consultation, prices can vary from $90 to $300 across Quebec.
Emergency room
Access
There is an emergency in each hospital, and you can find out about the occupancy rate or waiting time of the emergency via the Doctr application
A nurse will assess your condition within 30 minutes to 1 hour after registration. She will assign you a priority on a scale of 1 to 5:
1. If you are on a priority of 1 to 3, you will probably wait less than 2 hours.
2. If you are on a priority of 4 to 5, you will wait from 7 to 14 hours. The consultation with the emergency doctor will be very short (less than 5 minutes). It is therefore recommended to avoid going to the emergency room if you are not in a life-threatening situation.
Costs
You will have to pay a base fee of up to $1,000 when you register. Other fees may be added depending on your condition.
Ambulance :
You can call 911 to request an ambulance.
An ambulance will cost you $125 + $1.75 per kilometer. Once in the emergency room, you will also have to pay for emergency room consultation fees.
Other resources
The resources below allow you to talk to a healthcare professional quickly and free of charge in order to answer basic health questions.
Pharmacy
The pharmacist is the most accessible health professional in Quebec. He or she may recommend products to relieve your symptoms. He or she will also be able to confirm if you need to consult a doctor. It is recommended to go to a small pharmacy where pharmacists are more accessible.
Info-Santé 811
You can dial 811 on your phone in Quebec to talk to a nurse. You will be able to explain your symptoms and know if you need to see a doctor quickly.
Important: Info-Santé will never tell you not to consult a doctor. This service is therefore useful if you want to know if you can wait for a clinic appointment or if you need to go to the emergency room.