What Does Ontario Health atHome Cover? Public Home Care Explained

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Publicly funded home care is a real help and worth applying for. Here's how to get it, what it includes, and where it usually falls short.

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What Ontario Health atHome Covers, and What It Doesn't

Publicly funded home care is a real help and worth applying for. Here's how to get it, what it includes, and where it usually falls short.

November 1, 2026

4 min read

Most families don't know where public home care comes from until they need it.

In Ontario, it comes through one door: Ontario Health atHome.

It's covered by OHIP. It's worth applying for. It's a real help.

But it's built around assessed need and available staff, so it rarely covers everything.

Here's how it works, what it includes, and where families usually need more.

How to Get Publicly Funded Home Care

Referral. Anyone can make one: you, a family member, a doctor or a hospital. Call 1-833-515-1234.
Assessment. A care coordinator checks needs and eligibility.
Care plan. Services and hours are set.
Care begins. A nurse, PSW or therapist visits.
Review. Ask for a new assessment when needs change.

If someone is in hospital, the referral usually starts there, before discharge.

What It Covers

When someone is eligible, Ontario Health atHome can provide:

Nursing care at home
Personal support from a PSW, such as bathing and dressing
Therapy, such as physiotherapy or occupational therapy
Care coordination
Some medical supplies and equipment

It's also the door to long-term care. Applications for a long-term care home go through Ontario Health atHome.

For some groups, such as adults with an acquired brain injury, there's also Family-Managed Home Care: public funding to hire your own providers, where you handle the hiring, scheduling and reporting.

Where Public Care Falls Short

The province is adding money. Ontario's 2026 budget committed $1.1 billion more for home care over three years.

But demand is growing faster than the system.

39 days or more: the wait for 1 in 10 people referred from home before their first visit, against a target of 21 days.
1 in 5: people with complex needs in North Simcoe Muskoka who waited more than five days for personal support after their assessment, as of August 2026.
50,000+: people waiting for long-term care in Ontario. Half wait at least 165 days.
68%: Ontario family caregivers who say they've reached their breaking point.

None of this means public care isn't worth it. It means it's rarely the whole plan.

What That Means Day to Day

Hours are limited by assessment and staffing, not by what feels like enough.
Visits are task-focused. Company, outings and overnights usually aren't included.
The same caregiver isn't guaranteed. Families often see different faces from week to week.
Family fills the gaps, often a spouse, son or daughter.

That last point is where many families start to struggle.

Caring for someone you love is one thing. Being their only backup, every evening and weekend, is another.

Public and Private Care Can Work Together

You don't have to choose one or the other.

Private care can start now, while you wait for public services, or alongside them once they begin. Families often use it for the things public care doesn't cover:

Companionship, outings and getting to appointments
Longer visits, or the same Care Partner each time
Evenings, weekends and overnights
Extra support after surgery or a hospital stay

There's also a detail many families miss. If someone receives publicly funded home care, extra private home care can be exempt from HST. Share proof of the public services with your private provider.

An example

Say your father comes home after a hip replacement. Ontario Health atHome arranges physiotherapy visits and two PSW visits a week to help him shower.

That covers his rehab and his bathing. It doesn't cover the rest of his week: meals, a steady hand on the stairs, getting to follow-up appointments, and someone checking in on the days you're at work.

So the family adds three private visits a week, three hours each, with the same Care Partner every time. At $42 an hour, that's about $1,625 a month.

Since he's receiving publicly funded home care, those private hours can be exempt from HST. That's 13% the family doesn't pay, or about $210 a month.

Wondering what private hours would cost for your family? We break down 2026 home care rates in Ontario in this issue, and the tax credits that can bring part of the cost back.