This is the second of an eight part series exploring Ontario's decision to stop OHIP/Medicare funding for vitamin D tests.

“Because vitamin D is so cheap and so clearly reduces all-cause mortality, I can say this with great certainty: Vitamin D represents the single most cost-effective medical intervention in the United States.” Dr. Greg Plotnikoff, Medical Director, Penny George Institute for Health and Healing, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

You are a healthy person and visit your family doctor once a year for a complete check up. Many sources have told you that if you have adequate blood levels of vitamin D you can prevent cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes and numerous autoimmune disorders. Sheepishly, you ask your family doctor to test your vitamin D blood levels. He agrees to do so but also tells you that the cost will be $51.70 because OHIP coverage has been discontinued unless you happen to have one of the accepted medical conditions or diseases for which vitamin D blood testing receives coverage. Puzzled but unwilling to argue with the lab, you pay the $51.70 and wonder why you are being penalized for being healthy. This is a scenario that will be increasingly reported by millions of prevention-oriented people in Ontario in the years to come.
 

Dr. Zoltan Rona