What health care costs in Canada without insurance

Check these before you pay anything

Several public programmes cover care people assume they have to pay for, and they are widely under-used because nobody is told about them. None of them cost anything to check.

• Canadian Dental Care Plan — dental care for residents without private dental insurance, below a household income threshold.
• Ontario Seniors Dental Care for low-income residents aged 65 and over, and Healthy Smiles Ontario for those under 18 in eligible households.
• Publicly funded physiotherapy at designated clinics, for people 65 and over, under 20, recently discharged from hospital after related treatment, or receiving Ontario Works or ODSP.
• Ontario Structured Psychotherapy — publicly funded therapy for anxiety, depression and related conditions. In most regions you can refer yourself.
• Eye examinations — most provinces cover one a year for children and for older adults, and at any age for people with diabetes, glaucoma, cataracts and certain other conditions. Diabetes is the one people most often miss. In Ontario the age bands are 19 and under and 65 and over.
• Health811 — free access to a registered dietitian by phone, and nurse advice at any hour.

What insurance usually pays, and where it runs out

A typical workplace plan covers a fixed dollar amount each year per service — commonly $300 to $1,000 for physiotherapy, massage and chiropractic, and often pooled, so spending it on one leaves nothing for the others. Psychology is usually a separate and larger line, $500 to $1,500, though many plans reimburse only a registered psychologist and not a registered psychotherapist, even though both are regulated and both provide therapy.

Two details catch people out. Plans normally reset on the calendar year rather than your hire date, so December and January draw on different pots. And if your injury happened at work, WSIB pays; if it happened in a car accident, your auto insurer pays first, regardless of who was at fault. People routinely pay privately for injuries somebody else is obliged to fund.

Why the same treatment is quoted at different prices

For most professions there is no set price. Ontario publishes a suggested dental fee guide each year, but dentists are not obliged to follow it, which is why the same crown is quoted at strikingly different prices a few streets apart. Asking is reasonable and expected. For anything substantial, ask for the treatment plan in writing with the procedure codes — that lets you compare quotes properly and submit them to an insurer in advance, so you know what you will owe before any work begins.

Paying less, honestly

Many professionals keep a number of reduced-fee places for people who cannot pay the full rate. It is an established practice rather than a discount gimmick: a practice full only of people who can afford the full fee is not the practice most of them set out to build. The difficulty has always been that there is no straightforward way to find out who offers it.

That is what this site is for. You say the most you can pay per visit, and we introduce you to verified professionals who have agreed to work within it. It is free for patients, we take no commission on what you pay, and you pay the professional directly.

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How to find low-cost health care in Canada → — what is already free, who else has to pay, and how to ask for a reduced fee.

Sources

• Provincial ministries of health — public coverage, funded physiotherapy and eye care
• Government of Canada — Canadian Dental Care Plan
• Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program; Healthy Smiles Ontario
• Ontario Health — Ontario Structured Psychotherapy
• Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
• The regulatory College for each profession, named on its own guide page

Reviewed 14 October 2026. General information about cost and access, not medical advice. Programme eligibility changes — check the current rules rather than relying on what you were told previously.