Negative balance from the COVID-19 Advance Payment Program in Ontario

The ministry will remove negative balances on solo Remittance Advices caused by the first recovery installment in April.

COVID-19 Advance Payment Program

Starting with the April 2021 Remittance Advice (RA) and ending on the September 2021 RA, advance payments made under the COVID-19 Advance Payment Program were scheduled to be recovered in six equal installments from monthly OHIP payments. The April 2021 RA received the first recovery.

As of May, the additional monthly recovery process is on pause until further notice. As more information about the impacts of COVID-19 becomes available, repayments will resume.

Negative Balances

The RA will reflect a negative balance (amount owing) if you don’t have enough earnings on your solo RA to offset the recovery.

Negative balances don’t accrue interest and can’t be deducted from your bank account. If you have a negative balance on your solo RA, it will carry over to the next month’s RA, automatically applying any payments towards the negative balance until it’s repaid.

If you have a negative balance on your solo RA that was caused by the April recovery the ministry will remove them thanks to their discussions with the OMA. If you have any outstanding April recovery amounts they’ll be settled at the end of the recovery period on the June RA.

You can apply to have amounts recovered on your May Remittance Advice temporarily reversed if they cause financial difficulties. If so, contact the Service Support Contact Centre or call 1-800-262-6524.

If you have any questions about the COVID-19 Advance Payment Program, feel free to reach out to our team to help clarify.

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