Wellesley Institute

Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Publications Ensuring Equitable Access to OHIP Registration for Newborns

Rebecca Cheff

Ensuring Equitable Access to OHIP Registration for Newborns

There have been a number of recent cases of Toronto-area hospitals denying OHIP registration to newborns of parents who do not have permanent resident status. Universal healthcare has been a point of Canadian pride for decades, yet some of our most vulnerable are left without the most basic of coverage, making them susceptible to negative health effects and an inability to thrive in early years. In response to these concerns, raised by the Network for Non-Insured Clients, Wellesley Institute undertook this research to understand the root causes of these troubling cases. Based on consultations with hospital staff and community health care providers, the consultation paper identifies gaps and opportunities to clarify and improve the existing infant OHIP registration process with the goal of ensuring all newborns have access to OHIP in a timely and barrier-free way.

Equitable Access to OHIP Registration for Newborns

Download Equitable Access to OHIP Registration for Newborns

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.