Delisting (Canadian medicare)

Delisting is the term used in Canada when a province decides that a medical procedure will no longer be covered by Medicare in that province.

While Medicare is country wide, and is required to be portable and to have equal access, there are differences between what provinces will cover. In some cases, this has resulted in lost grants to the provinces; in other cases it has not.

An example of a delisted service is circumcision in Ontario. It is still possible to have a boy circumcised in Ontario by a doctor but the parents must pay the cost.

The issue of delisting services is becoming increasingly a battleground in Canadian Medicare. In an effort to save health care money the provinces are increasingly delisting services, however the services that are being delisted are becoming ones that would more generally be considered "medically necessary". For example, for someone who is not a senior or a child, eye exams to check vision are no longer covered in Ontario. See the Medicare in Canada page to see a discussion of the complexities as well as the uneven impact that delististing can cause.