Bill 7 explained in plain English
Health Care is Not for Sale Act (Addressing Unfair Fees Charged to Patients), 2025
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 44th Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 7 amends Ontario's health professions and community health services laws to prevent and penalize unfair patient fees, and to require that patients be treated fairly by health professionals.
Bill 7 is an Ontario bill aimed at protecting patients from unfair fees charged by health care providers. The bill makes changes to two Ontario laws: the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 and the Integrated Community Health Services Centres Act, 2023. For regulated health professionals (such as doctors, nurses, and other licensed practitioners), the bill: - Adds "fairness" to the principle that patients should be treated with sensitivity and respect in their dealings with health professionals. - Makes charging an unfair fee an act of professional misconduct. If a professional regulatory panel finds that a health professional or someone acting on their behalf charged an unfair fee, the panel can order the professional to reimburse the patient and suspend their licence for three months. - Requires each professional college to include measures in their patient complaint programs to prevent and address unfair fees. - Allows professional councils to create regulations defining what counts as an "unfair fee." For integrated community health services centres (community clinics): - Allows the Director to revoke or suspend a centre's licence if it is charging or will charge unfair fees to patients. - Prevents the Director from removing services from a centre's licence unless there is reason to believe fees for those services are being charged unfairly. The bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (approval from the Governor General).
- Adds 'fairness' as a principle in patient interactions with regulated health professionals, alongside sensitivity and respect
- Makes charging an unfair fee an act of professional misconduct that a regulatory panel can penalize
- Requires health professionals found guilty of charging unfair fees to reimburse patients for those fees
- Authorizes a three-month suspension of a health professional's licence if they are found to have charged unfair fees
- Requires professional colleges to include measures in their patient relations programs to prevent and address unfair fees
- Allows professional regulatory councils to make regulations defining what constitutes an 'unfair fee'
- Allows the Director to revoke or suspend a community health services centre's licence if it charges or will charge unfair fees
- Prevents the Director from removing services from a community health services centre's licence unless there is reasonable belief that fees for those services are being charged unfairly
- Patients seeking health care services from regulated health professionals (doctors, nurses, and other licensed practitioners)
- Regulated health professionals and their employers
- Professional regulatory colleges and councils that oversee health professionals
- Integrated community health services centres (community clinics)
- The Director of Integrated Community Health Services Centres
- Professional regulatory panels that handle complaints against health professionals
- Health professionals must treat patients with fairness, sensitivity, and respect
- Professional colleges must include measures in their patient relations programs to prevent and address unfair fees
- Health professionals who charge unfair fees may be required to reimburse patients
- Health professionals who charge unfair fees may have their licence suspended for three months
- Patients have the right to complain about unfair fees to their health professional's regulatory college
- The Director may revoke or suspend a community health services centre's licence if it charges unfair fees
- The Director must have reasonable grounds to believe fees are unfair before eliminating services from a centre's licence
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (the bill is currently at First Reading as of April 30, 2025, so Royal Assent has not yet occurred)
- Patients who are found to have paid unfair fees may be reimbursed by the health professional
- Health professionals and centres may face financial liability through required reimbursements
- A health professional found to have committed professional misconduct by charging an unfair fee may be ordered to reimburse the patient for the amount paid for the unfair fee
- A health professional found to have committed professional misconduct by charging an unfair fee may have their certificate of registration suspended for three months
- A community health services centre's licence may be revoked or suspended if it is charging or will charge unfair fees
- A community health services centre's services may not be eliminated from its licence unless there is reasonable belief that fees for those services are being charged unfairly
- The bill does not define what constitutes an 'unfair fee'—this will be determined by regulations made by professional regulatory councils, subject to approval by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and the Minister. Until these regulations are made, the term 'unfair fee' is not defined in law.
- The bill does not specify what types of fees are most commonly unfair or provide examples of unfair fee practices.
- The bill does not specify the process patients must follow to complain about unfair fees or timelines for investigating complaints.
- The bill does not specify how the three-month suspension will be timed or whether it can be consecutive with other suspensions.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes 'reasonable ground for belief' that unfair fees are being or will be charged.
- The bill does not address whether patients can seek remedies beyond reimbursement (such as damages).
The Act is amended to add fairness as a core principle in patient treatment, establish unfair fees as professional misconduct, require colleges to address unfair fees in their patient programs, and authorize regulatory councils to define 'unfair fee' by regulation.
Source: Sections 3, 51 (Schedule 2), 84 (Schedule 2), and 95 (Schedule 2)
The Act is amended to allow the Director to revoke or suspend licences and restrict services when a community health services centre charges or will charge unfair fees to patients.
Source: Sections 13 and 14
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced