Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Toronto

What OHIP does and does not cover

OHIP pays for visits to a family doctor, specialist consultations on referral, hospital care, and diagnostic tests, with no bill at the point of use. It does not cover outpatient prescription drugs for most working-age adults, routine dental, optometry, or most physiotherapy and psychology. Ontario runs drug coverage for those under twenty-five without a private plan and for older residents; anyone in between relies on employer benefits or pays.

• Covered: family doctor, specialists on referral, hospital, most diagnostics.
• Not covered for most adults: prescriptions outside hospital, dental, vision, physiotherapy.
• Employer benefits plans typically cover a percentage of drugs, dental and paramedical care.

Finding a family doctor

This is the genuine difficulty. Many Toronto practices are not accepting new patients, and the wait to be rostered with one can run to months or longer. Ontario operates Health Care Connect, a registry that tries to match unattached patients with a doctor accepting new ones, and it is worth joining the day you have a health card. Until then, walk-in clinics handle episodic problems but keep no continuity of record.

• Register with Health Care Connect as soon as your health card arrives.
• Ask colleagues — most attachments happen by word of mouth.
• Walk-in clinics are covered by OHIP but do not follow anything up.

Urgent and emergency care

911 for emergencies. Health811 is Ontario's free telephone and online service staffed by nurses, and it is the sensible first call when you are unsure whether something warrants a hospital. Emergency departments in Toronto triage properly, which means a genuinely serious case is seen quickly and a minor one can wait a very long time; urgent care centres are the better route for the latter.

The gap before OHIP

Depending on status and timing there can be a period before public cover starts, and hospital care in that window is billed at uninsured rates that are not trivial. Private travel or newcomer medical insurance covers the gap and is inexpensive relative to what it protects against. Buy it before you fly rather than after you land.