Since its inception in 1924, the OHA has helped shape and influence health care policy in Ontario. Today, most Ontarians take publicly funded, universal health care for granted. Yet in 1941, many years before the Canada Health Act was passed, the OHA recognized the need for affordable health care and thus created Ontario Blue Cross. OHA staff were also instrumental in the Ontario government’s creation of the body which ultimately became the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Then, out of OHIP came the Department of Health and subsequently, the Ministry of Health.
Today, the OHA assumes a leadership role on the issue of patient safety, and offers its members – Ontario’s private- and public-sector health care organizations, including all 151 hospitals – a multitude of benefits.