The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is a private, not-for-profit trust fund that provides defined benefit pensions to Ontario's healthcare workers. Founded in 1960 by the Ontario Hospital Association, it has grown over more than 65 years into the pension plan for the province's broader healthcare community — serving more than 504,000 active, deferred, and retired members across 870 participating employers, including every hospital in Ontario. HOOPP pays approximately C$4 billion in pension benefits annually and manages a global, diversified multi-asset portfolio from offices in Toronto and London.
Website: hoopp.com
Founder: Ontario Hospital Association
Company type: Private, not-for-profit trust fund; governed by a Board of Trustees
Regions served: Ontario-based membership; global investment portfolio managed from Toronto and London
What does HOOPP offer?
HOOPP provides defined benefit pension administration and investment management exclusively for Ontario's healthcare sector. Its services to members and employers include:
- defined benefit pension plan administration, including pension calculations based on earnings and years of service, retirement counselling, and survivor benefits
- lifetime pension income with inflation protection through cost-of-living adjustments
- early retirement options from age 55, with benefits adjusted according to retirement age and years of service
- investment management of a globally diversified multi-asset portfolio using a liability-aware investment strategy integrated across public and private markets
- participation for Ontario incorporated physicians effective January 2025, extending HOOPP's reach beyond its traditional hospital-sector base to self-employed physicians operating through Medicine Professional Corporations
HOOPP is governed by a Board of Trustees comprising 16 voting members: eight appointed by the Ontario Hospital Association and eight appointed equally by four unions — the Ontario Nurses' Association, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Service Employees International Union, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees. This joint governance structure aligns trustee incentives with member outcomes rather than with external profit. HOOPP operates as a not-for-profit trust and is set up for the sole purpose of providing lifetime defined benefit pensions to Ontario's healthcare workers.
HOOPP in the market
HOOPP is one of Canada's strongest defined benefit pension plans and a significant institutional investor in its own right. Its membership covers over 95% of primary care healthcare workers and every hospital in Ontario, giving it a breadth within its sector that most single-employer or multi-employer plans cannot approach. More than 138,000 retirees currently draw pensions from the fund, and the plan supports those obligations through a liability-aware investment strategy designed to match long-duration pension liabilities with long-duration, diversified assets across public and private markets.
The plan's not-for-profit structure is a defining differentiator in an era when many Canadians lack access to employer-sponsored defined benefit pensions. HOOPP operates solely to serve its members, with no shareholders or external profit motive. This structure, combined with the scale advantages of managing assets for a large, sector-concentrated membership, has allowed HOOPP to maintain a strong funded position and deliver consistent pension security over decades.
HOOPP's extension to incorporated Ontario physicians in 2025 represents a meaningful broadening of its eligible membership — the first significant move beyond its founding healthcare employer base in the plan's history. That change, enabled by a regulatory amendment, may serve as a template for further expansion of the plan and signals HOOPP's growing relevance to a wider portion of Ontario's healthcare ecosystem, including highly compensated professionals who have historically lacked access to the security of a well-funded defined benefit plan.
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