Ontario stepping up phase-out of old red-and-white health cards

Then-Ontario Health Minister Ruth Grier holds up an enlarged version of Ontario's new health card in Toronto on Jan. 20, 1995. (Phill Snel / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

If you live in Ontario and you’re one of the 3.5 million residents who still has one of the old red-and-white health cards, you might want to call the Ministry of Health to be sure the card is still valid.

The health ministry says it has been stepping up efforts to phase out the old Ontario Health Insurance Plan cards in favour of the newer and more secure green photo cards.

But some residents are not realizing their cards have been cancelled until they arrive at a doctor’s office or clinic seeking medical care.

More secure photo-based health cards were introduced in Ontario in 1995, and residents were told that the old red and white cards would be phased out by 2000. But more than 15 years after the photo cards were introduced, millions of Ontarians still have the old cards.

The ministry of health says it sends out 3,000 notices per month asking residents to visit a ServiceOntario office to trade in their red-and-white OHIP cards for a photo health card.

Residents who miss the notices or who fail to respond could find themselves without coverage.

Zita Astravas, press secretary to Health Minister Deb Matthews tells CTV News that residents are always sent three notices requesting they re-register for the new cards.

She says if residents fail to respond to all three notices, or if they have not made any claims on their health card in more than seven years, their cards will be cancelled.

“Only under these circumstances would the card be suspended. If there are security issues related to the card, the card could be suspended without advance notice to the customer as well,” she said in an email to CTV News.

Yet some residents have said they have received no notices before learning their cards are no longer usable.

Marie-Andrée Bolduc, a communications advisor for Ontario Minister of Government Services

Harinder Takhar, says she cannot comment on specific cases, but that “it is not the policy of Service Ontario to cancel cards arbitrarily.”

The province’s auditor general recommended in 2006 that the ministry of health expedite the conversion of the red-and-white cards to the more secure photo cards.

Astravas says the ministry has been working to follow that recommendation and that every year, around 225,000 red and white health cards in Ontario are eliminated from the system, largely from residents re-registering for the new health cards.

Other cards are replaced when residents lose their old cards or have them damaged or stolen. As well, some residents voluntarily request their old cards be replaced.

Takhar says Ontario residents do not have to worry that they will lose their health care coverage.

“At no time during the health card conversion process will someone in need of care not be able to get the care they need,” she told CTV News in an email.

Astravas says any residents who find that their Health Card has been declined can visit a ServiceOntario location to confirm their ongoing health coverage eligibility and register for a new health card.

She adds that any resident who has had to pay for medical care after they had their card cancelled by mistake should be able to have their money reimbursed, after they’ve applied and received a new health card.