How Health-E-Now is different from OHIP

Health-E-Now is not a replacement for OHIP and not a way to pay for faster access to medically necessary insured care. It is a way to get access to uninsured services (services OHIP does not cover) and to convenience features that have nothing to do with the medical service itself. This page explains the line — clearly, because the line matters legally.

What your membership pays for

A Health-E-Now membership pays for uninsured services and convenience. Examples:

• Sick notes / back-to-work letters / school notes — OHIP does not pay for these; they are uninsured services.
• Travel medicine consultations, certain immunization assessments, and other services explicitly excluded from the OHIP Schedule of Benefits.
• Coordination, scheduling, and platform features — booking, reminders, an online portal to access your records, secure messaging, the patient app, document storage.
• Administrative document drafting — referral letters to non-OHIP-billable specialists, form-filling that OHIP does not pay for.
• Optional add-ons — accessing records of a closed Health-E-Now visit beyond the basic access right, image-based ID verification, etc.

Membership does not entitle you to faster, preferred, or priority access to medically necessary insured services. If a service is OHIP-insured and you are OHIP-eligible, you receive that service on the same clinical priority as any other Ontarian, whether or not you are a member.

What's billed to OHIP (not to you)

When a visit involves an OHIP-insured medical service and you have a valid OHIP card, the treating physician bills OHIP for that service. You are not charged for the insured service itself. Examples of insured services that commonly come up in our visits:

• Assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of a medical complaint by a CPSO-licensed physician.
• Prescribing medication when medically indicated.
• Issuing a lab requisition for medically necessary testing.
• Referring to a specialist for an OHIP-insured opinion.

If you do not have OHIP (you are visiting Ontario, you are between provinces, you are uninsured), you pay a per-visit fee that covers the insured-equivalent service plus the platform overhead. Pricing is shown on the booking screen before you confirm.

The legal line — and why we are careful about it

Ontario's Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, 2004 (CFMA) prohibits charging an OHIP-eligible Ontarian, directly or indirectly, for an insured medical service, or for preferred access to one. We take that seriously. That is why:

• We do not bundle insured services into a membership.
• We do not charge a "block fee" that includes any insured service.
• We do not advertise the membership as "skip the OHIP wait" or "get seen faster for medically necessary care."
• We list, in the membership terms, the uninsured services that are included and the convenience features that are included, and nothing else.
• If a visit turns out to be entirely OHIP-insured for an OHIP-eligible patient, the visit is billed to OHIP and the patient is not separately charged for the medical service.

What if I don't have a family doctor?

Many Ontarians don't. Health-E-Now is not a substitute for a longitudinal family doctor — we do not provide continuous primary care, manage complex chronic conditions, or build a long-term relationship with you. Our physicians can treat episodic concerns, write the documents you need, and refer you in person when something is outside our scope. If you need a family doctor, register with Health Care Connect.

Receipts and Health Spending Accounts

Receipts for uninsured services and membership fees are issued electronically and are generally HSA-eligible (Health Spending Account) under most Canadian employer plans. We can also issue a tax receipt suitable for the medical-expense tax credit where applicable. Coverage by your specific plan depends on your plan rules; we recommend checking with your administrator.

OHIP service codes — for the curious

When the physician bills OHIP for an insured service in a virtual visit, the applicable code is determined by the Ministry of Health's Schedule of Benefits. Examples include the virtual-care fee codes set out in the Ministry's bulletins. Patients are not involved in choosing the code; we mention this only so you know there is a defined set of codes for virtual care.

Questions

For questions about what's covered, email info@health-e-now.com. For privacy questions, contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@health-e-now.com or see our Privacy Policy.