Do we need to purchase home care insurance?

Can you tell me if there is government assistance for home care through the health system or do we need to be fully insured against such a need arising in the future? We are both in our mid-sixties.

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Home care in Ontario is a publicly funded, but not publicly insured service. Across the province, OHIP funds the Community Care Access Centres to provide publically funded home care to all eligible Ontarians. The services offered are nursing, therapies (social work, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, speech language pathology) and personal support services and homemaking related to care in the home.

All clients are assessed and their eligibility is determined by the CCAC case manager. If the client is eligible, they can receive a certain amount of service, depending on their need and the amount of funding the CCAC can afford. Some people do decide to increase their assessed care by paying privately for additional levels of service from organizations that deliver home health care in Ontario, many of whom are members of the Ontario Home Care Association.

Ontarians often use the insurance benefits they may have from former workplaces, or from insurance policies such as the policies that you have mentioned in your email. It is a personal decision as to whether or not you may or may not require additional insurance for you and your loved ones which may be dependent on your state of health and also whether or not you have access to family or relatives who you could call on to assist you should you require additional help in the home.