What OHIP covers if you travel within Canada

First and foremost, if you are planning to travel within Canada don’t forget to check your OHIP card: expiration date, if your personal information (e.g. name, birthdate) is correct, and if your current address is right.

What OHIP covers elsewhere in Canada

Please remember that any service or treatment you receive in another Canadian province or territory must be medically necessary for it to be covered by OHIP.

When you show your valid Ontario health card in another Canadian province or territory, you will be covered for some of the same services you’re covered for in Ontario including:

• physician services (e.g. visit to a walk-in clinic)
• services provided in a public hospital (e.g. emergency, diagnostic, laboratory)

What OHIP does not cover elsewhere in Canada

Services that are not covered by OHIP in another Canadian province or territory include:

• services not covered in Ontario (e.g. cosmetic surgery)
• ambulance services (including transport and paramedic)
• prescription drugs and other drugs given outside a hospital
• home-care services
• fees charged by private hospitals or facilities
• diagnostic or laboratory services outside of a public hospital
• long-term care or residential services
• assistive devices (e.g. prosthetics)

Buy private health insurance

We recommend that you buy private health insurance before leaving Ontario to cover any uninsured services you may need.

If you are away for more than 7 months

If you’re going to visit, work or study in another Canadian province or territory for more than seven out of twelve months, you need to confirm your coverage before you leave. Call ServiceOntario to determine what you may need to do.

During frequent work travel

If your job requires frequent travel to other parts of Canada, your OHIP coverage will continue if you qualify as a mobile worker. To qualify as a mobile worker, bring proof to the nearest ServiceOntario centre that you:

• travel frequently for more than 212 days in any 12-month period for work (proof from your employer is required)
• make Ontario your primary home (proof of residency is required – e.g. most recent income tax assessment, utility bill, mortgage, rental or lease agreement)

 During full-time studies

To keep your OHIP coverage while studying fulltime in another province or territory in Canada, you must bring proof to the nearest ServiceOntario centre that you:

• have lived in Ontario for at least five months in the 12-month period immediately before leaving (proof of residency required)
• are enrolled in full-time academic studies elsewhere in Canada (e.g. letter on school letterhead)

 Source: https://www.ontario.ca/page/ohip-coverage-across-canada