Ontario pledges $1.8 billion to expand access to family doctors for two million residents

Ontario’s government says it will invest $1.8 billion to connect two million more people to a publicly funded family doctor or primary care team within four years.

The Doug Ford government, which is about to hold a snap election, says this will achieve its goal of connecting everyone in the province to a family doctor.

“Through our government’s record investments in primary care, we have been able to achieve the highest rate of access to regular health care providers in the country,” said Ontario’s Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, Sylvia Jones.

“With this historic, transformative investment, we can now achieve our goal of connecting every person in the province who wants a primary care provider.”

This announcement includes $1.4 billion in new funding alongside more than $400 million in already-approved financing of primary care.

The province says that since 2018, the government has added over 15,000 new physicians to its healthcare workforce, including a 10 per cent increase in family doctors.

Data collected in September 2023 by research firm Inspire Primary Health Care found that 2.5 million people in Ontario were without a family doctor. It marked an increase of more than 160,000 people at the time. The Ontario College of Family Physicians also released the results of a separate study that found 670,000 people in Ontario need to travel more than 50 km to see their family doctor.

Monday’s announcement comes on the same day Ontario’s budget watchdog concluded that the government’s decision to speed up the rollout of alcohol sales in corner stores will cost the province more than $600 million.

Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie criticized Premier Ford in light of the FAO’s findings, stating that the taxpayer dollars spent to get alcohol in big box stores a year earlier than planned would have allowed the province to hire 1,400 family doctors.

With files from The Canadian Press