On July 11, 2017, the Executive Officer announced that as part of the 2017 Budget and the government’s ongoing commitment to provide better and faster access to high-quality health services, Ontario is proposing to create the OHIP+: Children and Youth Pharmacare Program.

Under this program, the province would, as of January 1, 2018, provide drug coverage for children and youth who are covered by OHIP and aged 24 or under, regardless of family income.

The proposed regulatory amendments would:

• prescribe persons who have OHIP coverage and are aged 24 or under as a class of “eligible persons” for the purposes of the ODB Program;
• specify that no co-payment may be charged to ODB-eligible persons who are under 25; and,
• prescribe the implementation of OHIP+: Children and Youth Pharmacare Program as a purpose for which the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care may collect, use and disclose personal information under section 13 of the ODBA.

Interested parties are invited to provide written comments on the proposed changes to the regulations as part of the review. The ministry will consider comments received on or before August 10, 2017 at midnight EST. Comments can be made online, by fax at 1-416-325-6647 or mailed to the following address:

Executive Officer of Ontario Public Drug Programs
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
80 Grosvenor Street, 9th Floor
Hepburn Block, Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1R3

A copy of the proposed regulatory amendments and summary of the proposed amendments are available on the Regulatory Registry website.

For more information, please call ServiceOntario, Infoline at 1-866-532-3161 TTY 1-800-387-5559.