Bill 55 2004

An Act to amend the Health Insurance Act

Preamble

Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, amputation, kidney failure and heart disease in Ontario. Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, is a life altering condition.

While people with diabetes only make up 6 per cent of Ontario's population, they account for 32 per cent of heart attacks, 43 per cent of heart failure cases, 30 per cent of strokes, 51 per cent of new dialysis patients and 70 per cent of amputations.

An insulin pump not only prevents complications for young people, but in many cases reverses them by putting a regular amount of insulin into the body that closely matches what the body normally does. The cost of the pump prevents most Ontarians from having the use of it.

Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1.  Section 11.2 of the Health Insurance Act, as enacted by the Statutes of Ontario, 1996, chapter 1, Schedule H, section 8 and amended by 1997, chapter 16, section 7, is amended by adding the following subsection:

Same

(1.1)  The provision of insulin pumps and supplies for the pumps are insured services.

Commencement

2.  This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

3.  The short title of this Act is the Health Insurance Amendment Act (Insulin Pumps for Diabetics), 2004.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends the Health Insurance Act by making the provision of insulin pumps and supplies for them an insured service under the Act.