OMA Insurance introduces new Pregnancy and Family Supports Benefits

As we enter our third year of the pandemic, it’s become increasingly important for the OMA not only to have our members’ backs but also to help physicians look after themselves and their families. We’ve been hearing directly from members about the urgent need for better health and wellness support for families.

The message was clear: it’s time for action. That’s why the OMA is providing members with added health benefits that go beyond the basic coverage available through private insurance companies in the marketplace. We’ve made OMA’s health and dental coverage for physicians more robust and equitable by introducing the new Pregnancy and Family Supports Benefits, continuing health coverage for your dependents in the event of your death, and enhancing the dental coverage already in place. It’s all part of the OMA’s and OMA Insurance’s effort to support physicians in both their professional and personal lives, helping them to protect their well-being and that of their families as they do the essential work of caring for Ontarians through extremely challenging times.

Enhancing your health benefits

The OMA has benefited from the advocacy work of members for the needs of physicians during pregnancy, birth and lactation. OMA’s past president Dr. Samantha Hill and Dr. Clover Hemans, co-chair of OMA Women, have highlighted opportunities to enhance coverage for families. Member feedback shows that gaps in coverage to support fertility, birth and lactation not only affected OMA’s women members but all physicians raising families.

“Medicine, and in particular residency, requires a lot of delayed gratification and self-denial,” said Dr. Hemans about the challenges she and many other physicians have faced. “As a result, we often delay our childbearing and in so doing a few things happen: You’re older when you have your first child. You’re often sleep-deprived and stressed which we know decreases fertility. The OMA recognized that infertility treatments and breastfeeding are issues and that coaching and supportive care are really helpful for both physical and mental health.”

These urgent calls for action encouraged OMA Insurance to move forward with several much-needed enhancements to its health plans. Effective Jan. 1, 2022, members now have access to increased coverage for fertility treatments of up to $7,000/lifetime and additional benefits to help cover the costs of birthing coaches, doulas and lactation consultants.

“OMA cared enough to genuinely listen and make a difference,” Dr. Hemans said. “We’ll be watching and providing feedback about how it’s working from a practical perspective.”

Providing unique coverage for physicians’ needs since 1956

Sponsored by the OMA and distributed by OMA Insurance, with coverage underwritten by Sun Life Financial, the health plans we provide to our members are unlike any other: rather than being a ‘for profit’ plan driven by market forces, our plans are uniquely designed to help physicians look after themselves, raise healthy families, better manage stress and have more opportunities to create balance in their lives. Our members are responding positively to OMA Insurance coverage:

• Eighty-eight per cent of our members are insured with OMA Insurance
• More than 20,000 members have health and dental coverage
• The health benefits accessed most often are prescription medication and paramedical practitioners, including mental health providers
• Over the last two years, the number of physicians and their family members who have accessed mental health benefits through OMA Insurance has doubled and continues to increase

We’re always listening to our members about how we can help support the well-being of physicians and their families.