MEDIA ADVISORY: Ontario Doctors’ arbitration proposal on access to care for uninsured Ontarians is welcome news; province must ensure healthcare for all, say health workers

August 15, 2025, Toronto, ON – Health workers advocating for universal healthcare for all people in Ontario, regardless of immigration status, welcome the Ontario Medical Association (OMA)’s proposal to cover physicians providing medically necessary care to uninsured patients. This is an important and urgent first step to stop the cruel denial of healthcare to people in Ontario. Ultimately, we need a universal and accessible system that allows people to access care when and where they need it, fulfilling our international standards of healthcare as a human right. This means looking at successful models around the world, and expanding OHIP to residents of Ontario, regardless of immigration status.

Health workers from the Healthcare for All campaign are available for interviews.

Quotes:

• “Undocumented migrants live and work in Ontario. They pay taxes while doing essential frontline work including building our homes, growing and delivering our food, and caring for our communities in long-term care, social services, and hospitals. No one should have to fear being denied health care if they get sick or injured. We need a truly universal healthcare system which includes uninsured migrants and their families. Providing access to care when people need it means avoiding preventable complications and costs to the system. Ontario has an opportunity to provide healthcare for all, regardless of immigration status.” – Ritika Goel, family physician 
• “During the pandemic, Ontario set up a successful program that allowed everyone to access healthcare when they needed it, including uninsured Ontarians who often work in low wage precarious jobs. That program made our communities safer, healthier, and it also saved our system money. Providing care to every person in Ontario is a matter of basic human rights and dignity. If Ontario did it before, it can do it again.” – Jessica Chan, family physician 

To arrange interviews, contact:
Sarah Shahid
Coordinator, Decent Work and Health Network
[email protected] | 514-415-4666

About the campaign:

The Decent Work and Health Network is a group of health providers advocating for improving working conditions to help protect and promote the health of our patients. The network includes doctors, nurses, health workers, and experts who have been leading voices for paid sick days as an urgent evidence-based public health measure.

Quick facts:

• There are an estimated 500,000 Ontario residents without healthcare coverage. 
• When the COVID 19 pandemic hit, the provincial government recognized the important contributions of migrants and migrant labour and instituted the Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Program (PHSUP) to expand healthcare access to undocumented people. It recognized that when it comes to public health, no one is safe unless everyone is safe. 
• Through PHSUP 7,000 Ontario physicians provided care to patients without insurance 400,000 times. Unfortunately, PHSUP was cancelled, effective March 31, 2023.  
• Since then, leading medical organisations and hospital leadership have called for a permanent program to provide healthcare coverage to undocumented migrants including the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), Ontario Nurses Association (ONA), Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, Canadian Paediatric Society, Alliance for Healthier Communities, and more.
• A recent Ontario report illustrated that access to healthcare for uninsured people is worse than it was prior to the pandemic, with higher service fees, worse coordination between hospitals and community-based care, and increased in discrimination against uninsured clients. 87% of health and service providers consulted reported that access to healthcare was worse.
• Illinois also expanded to undocumented migrants and a preliminary study from University of Chicago has suggested that it resulted in 15% cost saving for hospitals
• Spain implemented a policy to provide healthcare to all people regardless of immigration status in 2011. This policy was revoked in 2012 but then returned in 2018 on the grounds that “It is a fallacy to say that excluding migrants benefits the system.” Research demonstrated a 15% increase in mortality among the migrant population in the first three years after the policy was revoked.
• We have clear research in Ontario that shows people who are uninsured show up with more serious conditions at the emergency room because they are afraid of being denied care when symptoms begin.
• Over two years, the PHSUP program cost $15 million, a relatively modest cost compared to the over $70 billion Ontario spends on healthcare annually. The cost-saving impacts of treating health proactively has not yet been calculated, so the costs are likely to be less after considering overall improvements in health expenses.