Ford government ends a health program on very short notice - ending a crucial, long-standing gap in health coverage now, is 'devastatingly cruel'

By Staff

March 26th, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

The Ontario government is bringing to a close a program that would pay hospital and physician costs for the uninsured, a move some argue will leave vulnerable residents without necessary medical care.

The Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Persons program started in March 2020. Under the plan, hospitals and doctors were allowed to bill the government for “medically necessary” treatments provided to patients without OHIP coverage.

Dr. Andrew Boozary

The program was timed to COVID, but it was never COVID-specific; all medically necessary care was eligible for reimbursement.

Advocates who deal with the undocumented and the homeless say it closed a crucial, long-standing gap in Ontario health coverage. Shutting it down now, they argue, is “devastatingly cruel.”

“We are now talking about a health system in Ontario where unhoused, newly landed permanent residents, temporary workers and international students run the risk of major medical bills and debt,” said Dr. Andrew Boozary, a primary care physician and executive director of population health and social medicine at Toronto’s University Health Network on Twitter. “The mirage of universality is over.”

Ontario hospitals were informed of the coming change, effective April 1, in a Ministry of Health memo. Many physicians only learned of it Friday night when the Ontario Medical Association sent out a note to its membership.

“It was a shocking Friday evening email,” Boozary said.

The ministry memo described the program as an effort “to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by allowing uninsured persons in Ontario, including those without Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage or other health insurance, to access medically necessary physician and hospital services.”