It’s time to renew your Ontario health card; advocates call for deadline extension

During the two years of the pandemic, many Ontario health cards have expired, and the province temporarily extended renewals due to COVID-19 and the various public health protocols that followed.

Over the holidays, Service Ontario sent out letters stating it is now time to renew your health card and “you must ensure you hold a non-expired Ontario photo health card by Feb. 28.”

Those who have a valid driver’s licence with their current address on the back are in luck — they can renew online. Everyone else has to do so in person.

Lousy timing for many vulnerable groups

Advocates for seniors and vulnerable communities say the timing and deadline for health card renewal are far from ideal.

“Maybe this isn’t the best time to be doing this kind of thing. We’re still dealing with the Omicron wave. There are a lot of people who are dealing with the downstream consequences of this pandemic,” says Dr. Naheed Dosani, palliative care physician and health equity lead at Kensington Health in Toronto.

Dosani points out that even before the pandemic, those who face structural vulnerabilities have long battled challenges to obtaining identification for access to healthcare.

“There are significant barriers … transportation, money, the time that people may not actually have because they’re working … or people who are dealing with mental illness or cognitive impairment,” he explained.

CEO of CanAge, Canada’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, adds that the health card renewal process will be both complicated and ill-timed for seniors during the midst of a substantial COVID-19 surge.

“When we’re asking people to stay at home … telling people — particularly vulnerable, older people — that they need to get this done in person is counter to everything we’re asking people to do to stay home and stay well,” said Laura Tamblyn Watts, adding that the issue is further compounded for seniors who face literacy or language barriers.

Dosani also points out that many people have lost their support networks because of the pandemic — including case workers or volunteer support groups — making it even more challenging to show up in person for health card renewal.

Tamblyn Watts says the same is true for seniors isolated at home alone.

“Older adults or people with disabilities who do not have their care workers or even their informal family supporters to help them get a renewal in-person face additional challenges … particularly at a time where many older people are self-isolating, and this is especially true as school [begins again],” she explained. “So family members like adult children who may have been able to help their vulnerable older parent may not be able to do so now because of fear of exposure, because their kids are back in school.”

Call to make alternate arrangements and extend deadlines

“Knowing that many of the people I care for may not be able to actually show up in person by [the deadline] — what will this mean for people in their ability to access healthcare? I certainly hope that this doesn’t lead to people being turned away from healthcare. It could create barriers, and that could really impact people’s healthcare outcomes. That’s worrying me,” said Dosani.

Tamblyn Watts echoes those sentiments.

“We’re looking right now at how having fourth boosters rolling out for older people and people who have other immunocompromised vulnerabilities. The last thing we want to do is have outdated health cards be a block for them to get their booster shot,” she said.

Dosani opines that online renewal should perhaps be expanded to all Ontarians.

“There are lots of things that we do in our society that previously we didn’t do online, that we do online now,” said Dosani. “I know that people are doing their citizenship tests online, for example. And so you start to wonder — it’s probably time to just evolve the process.”

Tamblyn Watts says many seniors will not be able to navigate the process online without support, but both agree that the simplest solution is to move the deadline.

“We have extended other important services, and this is one we should be extending again. There’s no real pressing reason that this timeline be enforced right now. What we need to do is extend this timeline well into the spring when the weather is better, and Omicron has lessened,” said Tamblyn.

“It may be worthwhile to move this initiative down the road when it’s more feasible, and it’s potentially safer for people,” added Dosani.

CityNews reached out to the Ministry of Health about the possibility of a deadline extension and whether online solutions are being considered but did not hear back before publishing time.