There are many reasons why someone may stop receiving social assistance. For example, a senior may turn 65 and begin receiving seniors benefits that are greater than their Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) income. A mother might return to part-time work once her children are in school, and now her income may become too high to qualify for Ontario Works (OW).
The problem with these transitions off of social assistance is that recipients often cannot afford health-related expenses that were previously covered by their benefits. These benefits, such as prescription drug coverage, transportation to medical appointments, and dental care, can be crucial for managing health conditions and preventing financial strain from unexpected medical costs. In these circumstances, determining whether a social assistance recipient may be eligible to keep some or all of their health benefits is important.
OW and ODSP both offer programs that extend health benefits to those who are no longer receiving money from social assistance. But OW and ODSP rules are complex, and many people miss out on these health benefits. That’s why ISAC created a toolkit called “Health Benefits for People Leaving Social Assistance” to guide community legal clinic caseworkers in assisting their clients to access and keep health benefits.
ISAC’s toolkit covers OW and ODSP’s Extended Health Benefits, and the two related benefits, the Transitional Health Benefit ODSP offers and the Extended Employment Health Benefit OW offers.
While the full toolkit is only available to legal clinic caseworkers, we are making some of the resources in the toolkit publicly available because this is important information that may not be well-known by the general public.
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