When you are hurt at work, the last thing you need is a surprise bill at the pharmacy counter. Here is what the WSIB covers, how to use it, and how to get money back when you have paid out of pocket.
What health care does the WSIB cover?
The WSIB's page on health care benefits lists:
- medical treatment
- hospitalization, including emergency care and surgery
- prescription drugs
- medical devices and orthotics
- equipment and supplies
- reasonable travel and accommodation expenses linked to your work-related injury or illness
The costs have to be approved and related to your claim. If you are not sure whether something will be covered, ask your case manager or nurse consultant before you pay. The WSIB's main line is 1-800-387-0750.
How do I fill a prescription on my WSIB claim?
Tell the pharmacist the prescription is for a WSIB claim and give them your claim number. The WSIB says that most of the time, pharmacies can bill it directly online.
A few things worth knowing from the WSIB's guidance to pharmacies:
- A prescription is needed for everything. That includes over-the-counter products.
- Generics come first. The WSIB pays for the generic version unless your prescriber marks the prescription "no substitution" or you have a documented bad reaction to the generic.
- Dispensing fees. The difference between the WSIB's dispensing fee and the pharmacy's own fee should not be charged to you.
To check whether a medication is potentially covered, the WSIB has a drug formulary search.
What if I already paid for a prescription?
Keep the receipt. The WSIB says that when a pharmacy cannot bill it directly, you can pay and then ask to be paid back by completing the Medication Reimbursement Form and submitting your receipts online.
Does the WSIB pay for physiotherapy?
For many injuries, yes. Steps to Justice notes the WSIB often pays for physiotherapy and chiropractic treatment directly.
The WSIB also runs programs of care with listed providers. Its health care programs page says the musculoskeletal program of care is for people in the early stages of recovery from a musculoskeletal injury, with a pending or allowed claim, within eight weeks of the injury. For most injuries, treatment can start right away, though the WSIB suggests confirming your entitlement with your case manager or nurse consultant.
The team-based program for more complex injuries needs approval from your case manager or nurse consultant first. A concussion has its own program, covered in Concussion at Work? How to Protect Your WSIB Claim.
Can I get my travel costs back?
Reasonable travel and accommodation linked to your injury are covered. Steps to Justice suggests recording the kilometres you drive to medical appointments and the dates of those appointments, getting receipts for everything, and sending the originals with the travel expense form. Keep copies of everything you send, in case something goes missing.
Is there anything I might be missing?
If you use a medical device because of your injury, the WSIB says you may be eligible for a yearly clothing allowance to repair or replace clothing the device damages. You can apply online.
What if the WSIB refuses a cost?
A refusal is a decision, and you can object to it. Unless it is about return to work, the WSIB's six month limit generally applies. A note from your health professional explaining why the treatment or item is needed is the strongest thing you can add. Our article “I Think WSIB Got It Wrong!” | Disagree With a WSIB Decision? How to Appeal, Step by Step sets out the route.
What should I record?
- Every receipt. The original kept safe, a copy for yourself.
- Every appointment. The date, the provider, the distance driven and the parking.
- Every prescription. The name, the start date and how it affects you.
- Every device or brace. When it was prescribed, and anything it damages.
- Everything you send the WSIB. What it was and the date it went.
Why use Hurt Square?
Because a cost you cannot show is a cost you may never get back. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it all.
- Every receipt and every trip. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide has structured space for every cost, from prescriptions and devices to parking and travel to appointments, alongside every conversation with the WSIB.
- The Ontario rules, in plain words. The Ontario Workplace Injury Companion Guide explains Forms 6, 7 and 8 and how to object, step by step through to the Appeals Tribunal.
- Made for hard days. 123 pages and more than 1,200 fillable fields that work on your phone, tablet or computer, in plain language. When your union representative, worker adviser or lawyer asks for something, it is already there.
Both guides, $39 until 22 November. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide and the Ontario Workplace Injury Companion Guide, with the discount applied at checkout. Bought separately: $63.99.
Get both guidesWho can help?
The Office of the Worker Adviser, if you are not in a union. It is an independent agency of the Ontario government, and its service to non-unionized injured workers is free. Its number for English service is 1-800-435-8980. If you are in a union, start with your union representative. A community legal clinic is another free route.
Read next
- “Will WSIB Cover My Bills?” | Off Work on WSIB? Here Is What You Will Actually Be Paid
- “What Happens Now?” | Hurt at Work in Ontario? Your WSIB Claim, Step by Step
- “I Keep Leaving Messages!” | WSIB Case Manager Not Calling You Back? How to Get an Answer
Every figure in this article comes from a named source. How we check
Last verified: October 2026.
