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Wednesday January 18, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 18, 2023

‘Always an upsell’: health critic Gélinas pans Ford’s OHIP plan

Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas says northerners won’t benefit from Premier Doug Ford’s plan to expand the range of medical procedures performed in privately-run clinics.

May 9, 2012

On Thursday, Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the three-phase plan, beginning with surgical and diagnostic clinics in Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo and Windsor performing an additional 14,000 cataract operations each year, which represents about 25 per cent of the province’s current wait list for the procedure.

Next, more private clinics will be able to offer MRI and CT imaging, as well as colonoscopies and endoscopies.

The government intends that by 2024, the third phase will see hip and knee replacements performed at for-profit clinics.

“These procedures will be non-urgent, low-risk and minimally invasive and, in addition to shortening wait times, will allow hospitals to focus their efforts and resources on more complex and high-risk surgeries,” the province said in a news release.

But Gélinas said the plan is a long way from the original vision of Tommy Douglas, where case care is based on needs, not your ability to pay.

“It’s already happening,” Gélinas said. “If you look at the cataract surgery, you have your cataract surgery done in the hospital. Nobody pays anything. But you have the same ophthalmologist, same surgeon doing the same procedures in their private clinic, and there is almost always an upsell.”

November 19, 2020

“Another $150.00 to remeasure the eye, $400.00 to use a lens that they prefer, $1000 for this and that and the other thing,” Gélinas said. 

Gélinas estimates that most private facilities are located in southern Ontario, while only a handful have set up shop in the north.

Once the province gives cities in the north the green light to open more private clinics, patients who choose to use their services can expect to be pushed to spend more money, Gélinas said.

“They find ways to make you pay and it’s a barrier to care,” Gélinas said. The province’s motivation in permitting the clinics, Gélinas said, is for a handful of providers to make money.

“There is a lot of money in healthcare,” Gélinas said. “If you look at the budget, $76 billion in Ontario from taxpayers’ money goes toward healthcare.”

April 1, 2021

“A lot of people are interested in health care not because they want to help people, because they want to make money,” she said. “There is a lot of money to be made off the back of sick people and it attracts a lot of investors.”

But Dr. Stephen Cooper, District 9 chair of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), said doctors have been expecting this move from the province for awhile, and for the most part, are welcoming the plan.

“Sudbury and the entire northeast are struggling with managing wait lists, particularly in some of the surgical procedures,” Cooper said. “So when it comes our way, I think it’ll be of great benefit.”

Cooper said the system, at its best, would allow private clinics to specialize, and help ease some of the congestion in hospitals. (CBC) 

 

Tuesday January 17, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 17, 2023

Ontario expanding number and range of surgeries offered at for-profit clinics

Ontario is significantly expanding the number and range of medical procedures performed in privately run clinics as the province deals with a surgical backlog made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

November 9, 2022

The change will be introduced over three phases. The first will see surgical and diagnostic clinics in Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo and Windsor perform an additional 14,000 cataract operations each year, representing about 25 per cent of the province’s current wait list for the procedure.

Next, more private clinics will be able to offer MRI and CT imaging, as well as colonoscopies and endoscopies.

“These procedures will be non-urgent, low-risk and minimally invasive and, in addition to shortening wait times, will allow hospitals to focus their efforts and resources on more complex and high-risk surgeries,” the province said in a news release.

The government intends that by 2024, the third phase will see hip and knee replacements performed at for-profit clinics.

The impending changes were outlined by Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones at a news conference Monday.

December 1, 2021

Ford and Jones said several times the care will be covered by OHIP, and Ford stressed patients will “never use their credit cards” at the clinics. He didn’t directly answer a reporter’s question about whether or not clinics would be allowed to upsell patients on associated elements of care.

While the changes are needed because of the province’s long surgery wait lists, Ford said, they will be kept in place permanently even after the backlog is cleared.

There are currently about 900 privately operated surgical and diagnostic clinics open in Ontario, Jones added. The province plans to approve licences for additional clinics in the future, she said.

Legislation set to be introduced in February would “strengthen oversight” of private health facilities, the news release said, and the province will continue to update its standards for how they deliver care.

Various health-care professionals told CBC Toronto last week they are concerned that the plan would drain resources from publicly funded hospitals and benefit the owners of private-sector clinics without improving patient care.

May 13, 2021

Jones said the changes will not affect staffing levels at hospitals in the province, while Ford lamented “endless debates” about who should deliver health care.

“The way I can describe it, you have a dam, you have a log jam, are you going to just keep pouring the water up against the logs?” Ford said.

“Or are you going to reroute some of the water and take the pressure off the dam? You see what happens when the dam has too much water, it breaks.”

Speaking to reporters, presumptive NDP Leader Marit Stiles said MPPs should be called back to the legislature immediately so the details of the plan can be debated. Stiles accused Ford of manufacturing a staffing crisis in hospitals via his government’s wage restraint law and “following the privatization playbook to a tee.”

“Make no mistake, Doug Ford is misleading you when he says that funding surgeries in private, for-profit clinics won’t have an impact on Ontarians,” Stiles said at Queen’s Park, adding believes the changes mark early steps toward a two-tiered health-care system in the province. (CBC) 

 

Thursday February 7, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 7, 2019

Health inspections, air ambulance won’t be privatized, minister says

December 3, 2002

Ontario’s health minister was forced to make assurances Monday that long-term care inspections and the province’s air ambulance service will not be privatized, as leaked documents appear to peg those services for “outsourcing.”

Christine Elliott’s comments came after the NDP released a second set of confidential government documents following the release last week of a draft version of the Progressive Conservative government’s upcoming health-care transformation legislation.

“The NDP have intentionally created confusion about the way care is delivered in this province,” Elliott said. “As we bring forward desperately needed and overdue change to health-care in this province, Ontarians will continue to access reliable, public health-care.”

December 21, 2016

The Ontario Provincial Police have been notified about the document leaks and the person responsible is no longer employed by the government, the head of the public service said in a memo.

Both sets of leaked documents show the government is creating a health “super agency” that would be in charge of managing health services, quality improvement, patient relations, digital health and tissue donation and transplants, among other responsibilities.

The draft legislation would allow the government to roll local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario, the Trillium Gift of Life Network and other government health agencies into the super agency. The local health networks are responsible for delivering home care, and one document warns of a risk of service disruptions.

Animated!

Elliott said the plan is not final and consultations are ongoing, but the NDP say the documents they revealed Monday include references to cabinet already approving the overall plan and appointing super agency board members.

One document, as part of a Dec. 13 workshop for assistant deputy ministers, references outsourcing laboratories — many of which are already privately run — inspections, licensing, devices and the province’s air ambulance service, Ornge.

Elliott said none of those services will be privatized. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Thursday May 17, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 18, 2018

Sound bytes and witch hunts won’t quell hydro anger

According to Environment Canada, the odds of getting hit by lightning are lower than one in a million. 

April 17, 2015

Unless you’re the Kathleen Wynne Liberals. In that case, you get zapped pretty much any time the subject of hydro comes up in Ontario. It doesn’t matter whether the specifics are big or small, the subject is a lightning rod for Ontarians’ anger and discontent, both with hydro rates and with the Liberals.

It happened again this week, with predictable results. But let’s try to drill down a bit to get past the rhetoric and sound bytes.

CBC was first to report that, back in January, Hydro One board members voted to boost their own compensation. After that boost, those part-time jobs pay $185,000. And at the time of the board decision, Hydro One’s share price was falling. 

April 14, 2018

Predictably, outraged followed from all the usual players. Doug Ford waxed apoplectic, promising to fire the bums and the CEO as well. Andrea Horwath reminded Ontarians, again, that we wouldn’t be in this position if the power utility was still under completely public control. And Kathleen Wynne, still smoking from the lighting strike, also condemned the raise while saying her government has already planned a review of utility governance including compensation.

All this sound and fury? It masks a difficult truth. Not one of the three parties has a believable, viable plan to really do what Ontarians want — to reduce electricity rates substantially and over the long term. 

Consider: Horwath’s NDP promise to cut hydro rates 30 per cent. They will “end the oversupply of power” and “aggressively” renegotiate contracts. You don’t need to be an expert to recognize this is pretty loose talk. Cutting rates that much would probably mean selling power for less than it costs to make. How will that help?

The numbers problem

The NDP also promises to buy back the part of Hydro One the Liberals sold to the private sector. That sounds like bringing back the good old days, but open your wallet first. Those shares have been appreciating in value. They will cost a lot of money. The government would need to use dividends it gets from the privatization to buy back the privatized share. Not only would be expensive, but it would take years, according to credible industry experts. 

Doug Ford’s hydro solution is even less realistic. So he fires Hydro One executives and the board. (It’s not even clear he could do this since it is not a public company at this point.) What then? He’ll need a new board and a new CEO. That means his cronies and will replace the Liberal ones there now. Will they work for nothing? Hydro One CEO Mayo Schmidt’s salary sounds ridiculously high at over $6 million, but his wage and that of all the board is a drop in the financial bucket overall. 

June 4, 2015

Beyond firing the CEO and board, and paying hefty severance penalties to do so, Ford has no plan for hydro. He is simply beating a convenient scapegoat, but he doesn’t have a better idea. And keep in mind it was Ford’s party that began the privatization of power under Mike Harris. 

The Wynne Liberals? Sadly or not, it doesn’t matter because no one is listening to them. 

Simplistic solutions won’t get the job done, and making Hydro One public again is a massive and expensive undertaking. No one in this election is being straight with voters, that much is clear. (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

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Wednesday September 27, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 27, 2017

U.S. VP Pence blasts ‘failings’ of Canadian health system

The vice-president of the United States has some less-than-complimentary words for Canada’s health-care system, which he accuses of certain “failings.”

Mike Pence made the remarks in an interview last week with Alaska radio station KFQD.

He was being asked about the Republican health legislation struggling to get through Congress.

Republicans appear to be wrestling to get a bill that would repeal Obamacare through the legislature before a procedural deadline later this month — and the effort is in deep trouble.

Pence warned that if the legislative effort collapses, the U.S. will be on a course for something similar to Canada.

That’s because the Democratic party is starting to rally to an unprecedented degree around the idea of single-payer health care as a long-term solution to the U.S.’s endless health debates.

“We have a clear choice here,” Pence said.

“You know, somewhere in between where I’m sitting in Washington, D.C., and (you) Alaska, is a place called Canada. I probably don’t need to tell the people Alaska about the failings of national socialized health care because it’s right in our neighbour and you see the results every day.

“Look, we’ve got a choice: It’s between big government, Washington, D.C., solutions that ultimately, I believe, will collapse into single-payer health care — or whether or not we’re going to repeal the (Obamacare) individual mandate.”

Canada’s health system is known to suffer from long wait times, especially for elective procedures. On the other hand, Canadians not only have longer life expectancies, but also spend far less on health care than Americans according to World Bank data.

The Trump administration has just received a fresh round of bad news about its health-reform effort: After John McCain, Susan Collins became the latest senator Monday to say she opposes the Obamacare repeal bill, almost certainly dooming it. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)