u/_Kinixchu_

My parents don’t have private insurance plans, and prior to university, I’ve always been covered by OHIP and Healthy Smiles for health and dental care.

Unluckily for me, I’m a person with frequent dental issues despite daily brushing and flossing. I get at least 2 new cavities each year. Not to mention complications with my many previous fillings that often need fixing.

My university claims that without private insurance, I’m unable to opt-out of their student health and dental insurance because OHIP and the Canadian Dental Care Plan apparently don’t suffice. Now I pay $425 for student insurance each year as part of my tuition, $240 out of pocket yearly for my monthly medications, and couldn’t even afford to get all of my fillings done because the dental coverage amount ran out for the year. With government insurance, I wouldn’t have to pay a single thing. I don’t need chiropractic or physiotherapy coverage, and all the other fancy things this student insurance barely even covers yet claims is the better option than OHIP for.

So my question is, can my university legally force me to opt-in to their student insurance despite not having private insurance? Also, I’m aware that OHIP and the Canadian Dental Care Plan are reserved for people who otherwise don’t have access to insurance. $425 is a lot (to me) for that “access”!! Does the government still view it as having access even though you have to pay for it? How is that any different from claiming someone has access to private insurances like Manulife but just choose not to pay for it?

I’ve lived in a Toronto Community Housing building (TCHC) for the last 16 years now with my father. I know I can’t expect luxury in community housing, but the tile flooring was not repaired prior to us moving in and already had significant cosmetic issues. Now, after 16 years of us being here, the floors look horrendous no matter how much we scrub and clean. However though, it’s still just cosmetic issues and doesn’t pose any health/danger concerns. These floor tiles are definitely 20+ years old. Is there any chance that the landlord/TCHC would replace the flooring, or legally have to after this long?

I just recently came home for the summer from university to find that my single father had almost no food in the house. By almost, I mean a loaf of wheat bread, cornmeal, and milk. That’s it. He’s 6’2, 120 pounds, and 70 years old.

I immediately bought a ton of groceries assuming it was a financial issue, just for him to tell me it’s all “fake food,” that I’m “poisoning myself,” and he refuses to eat any of it. I didn’t bring home a load of junk! It was bread, various meats, salmon, and a few snacks that could be considered junk but were for myself. Keep in mind I’m a broke uni student with no job for the summer yet, so I used my already little savings for this food hoping I’d be helping out.

Now having been here for a few weeks, I’ve noticed he just eats cornmeal in the morning and claims he’s ate enough for the entire day just off of that. He is very low income, but he spends his money on the most expensive foods like exotic fruits from other countries, wild caught fish, free range eggs, no-hormone meat; just to begin cooking/eating it then throwing it out claiming he can tell that it’s “fake food.” Unfortunately with his income, buying the best options for everything is a luxury (and in my opinion poor budgeting), especially to just be throwing it away!

I don’t know what to do. He’s getting old and his low weight definitely shows. He gets offended when I say he needs to eat more; he claims that humans were only meant to eat one meal a day anyways. He gets all of these opinions from Facebook. I love my dad so much and I’m worried if he continues this way, there won’t be much time left. What can I say to him to make him eat more?