1. Renewing a Health Card in Ontario
Why the online process is broken

2. Step 1:
I Google “how to renew a health card.” Two links appear that look relevant to my
search, and I trust that I’m headed in the right direction because the government
should understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and have the most relevant
links appear for my search.

3. Step 2:
I click on the top link and come to this page. So far, so good…

4. Step 3:
I want to fill out the forms and make sure I have the right documentation before I
visit the ServiceOntario centre. But when I try to click on the links in steps 2 and 3…

5. Step 4:
I am told “Page Not Found” – the links are dead.

6. Step 5:
I return to the previous page and click on the ServiceOntario link.

7. Step 6:
I come to this page, and click on the “questions and answers page” because it says
I’ll be able to figure out “what documents to bring.”

8. Step 7:
Hmm. I’m still looking to renew a Health Card - for the form and for the proof of
identity documents. I look through the list of FAQs, and I don’t see anything related
specifically to a renewal, like what I found on the previous site. The first question,
“How do I get an Ontario health card?” is the closest, so I take my chances.

9. Step 8:
Okay, same information as what I found on the previous site. Sigh. But likely I’m on
the right page now, and the links to the form and document list will work…

10. Step 9:
I get to a page about the original documents form.

11. Step 10:
Success! The form!

12. Other issues
• When I contacted ServiceOntario via Twitter, I
was told the links on the original page were fixed,
when in fact I was sent a different link. The links
in the page that comes up when one searches
Google are still broken.
– Link ServiceOntario sent where form links work:
http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/ohip/r
enew.aspx
– Link from Google where form links are broken:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/ohip
/renew.html

13. Other issues, cont’d…
• To make matters worse, when I clicked “Complete a Health
Card Renewal” in step 2 again, I came to a page with a list of
links to the form that were all broken! I tweeted
ServiceOntario again, and in the course of writing this, they
came back online.
http://health.gov.on.ca/en/publi
c/forms/ohip_fm.aspx

14. Conclusion
• The web site isn’t well managed. This isn’t the first time I had this
issue. I went looking for this information a month ago and the links
were dead then, and I thought it was an anomaly.
• It shouldn’t have taken me 10 click-throughs/steps, plus all of the
aggravation and uncertainty, to find the information I need. I
assume this is a pretty standard request that should be more front
and centre.
• SEO needs to be properly administered to ensure Canadians are
getting the right links when they search for the information.
• I am a university educated communications specialist and my
husband is an environmental engineer. We went through this
process to renew our 16-year-old son’s Health Card. If we couldn’t
figure it out, how could an elderly person who isn’t familiar with the
internet, or a young person, or someone with mediocre to poor
literacy skills?