Panel to advise on gender-affirming care

Summary#

Bill 80, the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, 2025, would create a new Ontario law. It would require the Minister of Health to set up an advisory committee and the committee to recommend ways to improve access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care. Its stated goal is to inform possible government action; the bill does not require the government to adopt the committee’s recommendations.

  • The Minister must establish the committee within 60 days after the law takes effect, and appoint its members.
  • The committee must include health care providers with relevant experience and members of transgender, Two-Spirit, non-binary, intersex and gender-diverse communities. The Minister must make all reasonable efforts to ensure those communities are a majority and that the committee reflects a range of identities and circumstances listed in the bill.
  • The committee must examine topics including access, coverage, wait times, referral requirements, informed consent, and how to define gender-affirming care procedures as lifesaving.
  • The committee must consult specified health care and other organizations, and report its recommendations to the Minister within six months of being established.
  • Within 90 days of receiving the report, the Minister must tell the Legislative Assembly which recommendations the Minister advises the government to implement. The bill does not require the government to implement them.

What it means for you#

  • People seeking gender-affirming care: The committee would consider ways to improve access and coverage, including for some procedures the bill says are not currently covered under the Health Insurance Act. The bill itself does not change coverage, create a right to care, or require new services.
  • People appointed to the committee and consulted organizations: Members would help develop recommendations. The committee must consult named groups, including primary care providers, Rainbow Health Ontario, and specified professional and health organizations.
  • Minister and government: The Minister must establish the committee, appoint members, and report to the Assembly on recommendations the Minister advises the government to implement. The government is not required to act on them.
  • General public: The bill would create an advisory process, not a new health care provider or front-line service. It would take effect on Royal Assent.

Money#

No cost estimate is provided in the supplied material.

  • The Lieutenant Governor in Council may set committee members’ pay and expenses, but only if the Legislature has appropriated money for that purpose.
  • The bill requires the Minister to establish the committee and requires the committee to do its work, but does not set a staffing budget or say how much those duties would cost.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not set out how members will be selected beyond appointment by the Minister, or how the committee will make decisions.
  • It does not specify how consultations must happen or whether the committee’s report will be made public.
  • It does not explain what happens if the committee misses its reporting deadline.
  • The bill lists issues for the committee to study, but does not define what “lifesaving” means in this context.
  • The bill does not explain how any recommendations would be funded or put into practice.

Case for#

  • The bill would bring people with lived experience and health care providers together to recommend ways to improve access and coverage.
  • Requiring the committee to examine wait times, referral requirements, informed consent, and coverage could help identify specific barriers and possible changes.
  • The bill asks the committee to consider diverse communities and circumstances, including youth, seniors, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, and people in rural and remote areas.

Case against#

  • The committee’s recommendations may not lead to changes: the bill does not require the government to implement them.
  • The bill sets deadlines for creating the committee, producing its report, and informing the Assembly, but does not set rules for how the committee will work or how its recommendations will be assessed.
  • The bill permits member pay and expenses if money is appropriated, but provides no cost estimate or staffing plan.
  • It is unclear whether, or how, recommendations about expanded coverage or services would be funded.