Healthcare is hard to navigate even when you have coverage

Ontario has a public health plan, several public programmes alongside it, workplace and private benefit plans, and a large amount of everyday care that sits outside all of them. Working out which of those applies to a particular appointment is genuinely difficult, and having coverage does not make the question go away.

Someone with OHIP may still pay for dental work, chiropractic, some physiotherapy, some eye care, prescription costs, forms and other services that are not publicly covered. Someone without OHIP may hold private, travel, student, employer or federal cover. Coverage is rarely all or nothing.

Everyone in Ontario looking for clearer everyday healthcare information, whatever their coverage situation.

Within that, we place particular importance on situations where people face additional barriers of coverage, information or access. That includes newcomers, visitors, international students, temporary residents, people between coverage arrangements, people without provincial health coverage, people paying for services their plan does not cover, and families trying to understand what care will involve.

Understanding what is covered and what may cost you out of pocket is useful regardless of the type of healthcare coverage you have.

Where support exists, information the project publishes will point at it, because people frequently have cover they do not know about.

• Provincial coverage may apply to you even if you assume it does not.
• Refugee claimants and some other groups are covered by a federal programme.
• Community health centres see uninsured patients at no cost in many cities.
• Students and workers often have cover through a school or employer plan they have forgotten about.

All Med Canada is a project in development. This website explains the project. It is not a place to search for a practice, compare prices or book an appointment, and it does not list healthcare providers. The operational side of the project is being developed separately and is not part of this website.