Need a doctor while visiting Ontario?

The situation

Getting sick away from home is stressful enough

Visitors to Canada aren't covered by OHIP, and finding a clinic that takes uninsured patients — let alone one with same-day availability — can be difficult. Emergency rooms will see you, but for non-emergencies the cost and the wait are hard to justify.

Doctor Fran gives visitors a simpler option: a phone consultation with a physician licensed in Ontario, booked from wherever you're staying. If you have travel insurance or super visa medical insurance, we provide a receipt you can submit for reimbursement — check your policy's terms.

• No OHIP, health card, or Canadian ID requirements to book
• Same-day phone consultations from wherever you're staying in Ontario
• Treatment for common issues — infections, UTIs, minor illness
• Receipts for travel insurance and super visa insurance claims
• For emergencies, always call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room

If you're here on a super visa

Your insurance covers less than you think

To get a super visa, Canada requires proof of private health insurance providing “a minimum emergency coverage of $100,000”, valid for at least a year, covering health care, hospitalisation and repatriation. The word doing the work in that sentence is emergency.

Nothing in the requirement obliges an insurer to pay for a routine appointment, a repeat prescription, or the ongoing management of a condition your parent already has. We read six Canadian insurers' policy wordings in August 2026, and every one of them is emergency medical insurance. Several exclude routine check-ups, chronic condition management and even follow-ups after a covered emergency, by name.

That leaves a real gap for a parent who may be in Canada for up to five years at a time. Our guide to what super visa insurance won't cover explains the exclusions and the stability period — the clause that most often causes a claim to be refused — and our side-by-side comparison of six super visa plans sets out how each insurer differs on the terms that actually decide a claim.

When to use us, and when not to

A phone consultation isn't always the right answer

If your parent has chest pain, difficulty breathing, signs of a stroke, a serious injury, or is confused or unresponsive, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Do not wait for a phone appointment, and do not wait to call your insurer first — no policy expects you to.

There are also times when something cheaper will do. Health811 gives free registered-nurse advice on 811, around the clock, and can tell you what is open near you. Our guide to where to take a parent who is unwell sets out when the emergency room is the right call and what Ontario hospitals publish for uninsured visitors. If your parent is a student's family member or you have extended coverage through a workplace plan, check what it already includes before paying privately.

Where a phone consultation genuinely helps is the ordinary middle: an infection, a urinary tract infection, a rash, a chest cold that isn't settling, a medication that has run out, or a form that needs completing. A prescription that has run out is the most common of these, because a prescription written outside Canada cannot be filled by an Ontario pharmacy. Those are the things that fall outside emergency cover and outside emergency rooms — and they are the reason this service exists.

FAQ

Questions from visitors