Ford could solve the public health care crisis by enforcing the law

The Ford government could have fined private clinics and doctors in violation of the Canada Health Act. He simply needs the political will.

In 2022, Tom was referred to a private surgery hospital in Toronto for a hernia repair. He was told was told that he would be in hospital for three or four days and that he would have to pay $295 per night for a semi-private room.

Without private insurance to cover this cost, Tom asked for a basic room but was told there were no ward rooms.

Tom was also told he would have to pay $82 for a COVID-19 test and parking.

The (approximately) $1,300 extra billing was out of Tom’s reach. Instead, Tom waited two months to have the procedure performed at North York General Hospital.

Tom was discharged the same day without any complications and without having to pay extra charges.

This private hospital actually violated the Canada Health Act. Private hospitals cannot require payment for upgraded rooms in order to access necessary surgery. All medically-necessary COVID tests are covered by OHIP and patients cannot be extra billed for them.

Judy Wolanski’s husband was turned down for hernia surgery from the private for-profit Shouldice Hernia Hospital because he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CPOD).

Wolanski’s husband was told to go to a facility that could deal with medical emergencies because Shouldice doesn’t have the capacity to do that.

After waiting two years, Wolanski’s husband had day surgery at the local Sarnia hospital without complications or extra charges.

The Ford government has pushed the privatization agenda decrying that local public hospitals can’t perform their daily functions. Yet, across Ontario, operating rooms and diagnostic testing are no where near capacity.

According to Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), Ontario has operating rooms sitting empty in almost every public hospital. They may be closed evenings, weekends, or for entire weeks and months. In some cases, they’re closed permanently.

Public hospitals have the capacity available to clear backlogs and improve access. But to do that they need adequate funding and trained staff. Unfortunately, that requires political will.

In the fall, the Ford government conducted public opinion polling that included questions about privatizing hospital care. Then in January, Ford announced moving forward with privatization of hospital services citing it was necessary to clear surgical backlogs and claiming that the status quo was unsustainable.

Ford also announced that Ontarians would never have to pay for health care with their credit card. That was a bait and switch.

Ontario funds its public hospitals at the lowest rate of any province in Canada. It has downsized hospitals more drastically than any other province.

Bill 124 is creating unprecedented staffing shortages and contributing to long wait lists for diagnostics and surgeries. Using nurses from agencies only drains more funds from the public system and does not result in better care.

Trying to attract nursing professionals from other provinces and countries won’t work as long as nursing staff aren’t paid a living wage with good benefits.

Unregulated operating room assistants have been piloted at Hamilton Health Sciences Centre under the guise of easing the backlog of surgeries.

Replacing scrub nurses who have a diploma or degree in nursing plus specialized credential in perioperative nursing with assistants is a disaster waiting to happen.

This an especially precarious move when it’s clear the private hospitals, like Schouldice, are forcing patients into the over crowded, under funded public system.

According to Nathalie Maher, Executive Director of the OHC, “It is a choice not a necessity, for the Ford government to put the health care workforce under wage suppression legislation for years – even as staff are leaving by the thousands.”

Mehra went on to explain, “There is no actual need to build a whole second set of operating room capacity in private clinics. There is no second staff force for private clinics. A nurse or an MRI technologist in a private clinic is a nurse or an MRI technologist who is not available to work in a public hospital. Where private clinics have opened in Canada, they have taken staff from public hospitals.”

Lois went to a private eye clinic in Newmarket where she was diagnosed with a macular hole. Lois paid for the surgery and to rent special equipment at her expense.

Two weeks later, Lois was told she needed cataract surgery on the other eye. However, Lois was not told that OHIP covered the necessary lens and instead was upsold an enhanced lens.

Lois was then told she needed to have annual check-ups at a cost of $150 per visit. During one of these check-ups, Lois was told she had floaters that required surgically breaking them up. She paid for this procedure.

Lois paid a total of $8,435 for all of the procedures plus $150 for each check-up. But it wasn’t until she was told that she had a mass in one eye that Lois began asking questions. That’s when the ophthalmologist told the secretary to charge OHIP for that visit.

Subsequently, Lois went to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto to investigate the mass in her eye and was told it didn’t exist.

The Newmarket ophthalmologist violated several sections of the Canada Health Care Act including charging this patient for medically needed check-ups; medically needed surgeries; equipment needed for surgery; and not providing Lois with the full information around the fact that patients have the right not to pay for medically unnecessary lenses. Reality is everything was covered by OHIP.

The Ford government has underspent on health care by almost a billion dollars and capped wages all while significantly increasing funding – doubling this funding in the final quarter of the year -- for for-profit clinics and hospitals.

The Canada Health Act protects patients from extra billing and user fees. All medically necessary hospital and physician services are covered by OHIP. As are medically necessary diagnostic tests.

According to Mehra, “In 2022, Tom was referred to a private surgery hospital in Toronto for a hernia repair. He was told was told that he would be in hospital for three or four days and that he would have to pay $295 per night for a semi-private room.

Without private insurance to cover this cost, Tom asked for a basic room but was told there were no ward rooms.

Tom was also told he would have to pay $82 for a COVID-19 test and parking.

The (approximately) $1,300 extra billing was out of Tom’s reach. Instead, Tom waited two months to have the procedure performed at North York General Hospital.

Tom was discharged the same day without any complications and without having to pay extra charges.

This private hospital actually violated the Canada Health Act. Private hospitals cannot require payment for upgraded rooms in order to access necessary surgery. All medically-necessary COVID tests are covered by OHIP and patients cannot be extra billed for them.

Judy Wolanski’s husband was turned down for hernia surgery from the private for-profit Shouldice Hernia Hospital because he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CPOD).

Wolanski’s husband was told to go to a facility that could deal with medical emergencies because Shouldice doesn’t have the capacity to do that.

After waiting two years, Wolanski’s husband had day surgery at the local Sarnia hospital without complications or extra charges.

The Ford government has pushed the privatization agenda decrying that local public hospitals can’t perform their daily functions. Yet, across Ontario, operating rooms and diagnostic testing are no where near capacity.

According to Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), Ontario has operating rooms sitting empty in almost every public hospital. They may be closed evenings, weekends, or for entire weeks and months. In some cases, they’re closed permanently.

Public hospitals have the capacity available to clear backlogs and improve access. But to do that they need adequate funding and trained staff. Unfortunately, that requires political will.

In the fall, the Ford government conducted public opinion polling that included questions about privatizing hospital care. Then in January, Ford announced moving forward with privatization of hospital services citing it was necessary to clear surgical backlogs and claiming that the status quo was unsustainable.

Ford also announced that Ontarians would never have to pay for health care with their credit card. That was a bait and switch.

Ontario funds its public hospitals at the lowest rate of any province in Canada. It has downsized hospitals more drastically than any other province.

Bill 124 is creating unprecedented staffing shortages and contributing to long wait lists for diagnostics and surgeries. Using nurses from agencies only drains more funds from the public system and does not result in better care.

Trying to attract nursing professionals from other provinces and countries won’t work as long as nursing staff aren’t paid a living wage with good benefits.

Unregulated operating room assistants have been piloted at Hamilton Health Sciences Centre under the guise of easing the backlog of surgeries.

Replacing scrub nurses who have a diploma or degree in nursing plus specialized credential in perioperative nursing with assistants is a disaster waiting to happen.

This an especially precarious move when it’s clear the private hospitals, like Schouldice, are forcing patients into the over crowded, under funded public system.

According to Nathalie Maher, Executive Director of the OHC, “It is a choice not a necessity, for the Ford government to put the health care workforce under wage suppression legislation for years – even as staff are leaving by the thousands.”

Mehra went on to explain, “There is no actual need to build a whole second set of operating room capacity in private clinics. There is no second staff force for private clinics. A nurse or an MRI technologist in a private clinic is a nurse or an MRI technologist who is not available to work in a public hospital. Where private clinics have opened in Canada, they have taken staff from public hospitals.”

Lois went to a private eye clinic in Newmarket where she was diagnosed with a macular hole. Lois paid for the surgery and to rent special equipment at her expense.

Two weeks later, Lois was told she needed cataract surgery on the other eye. However, Lois was not told that OHIP covered the necessary lens and instead was upsold an enhanced lens.

Lois was then told she needed to have annual check-ups at a cost of $150 per visit. During one of these check-ups, Lois was told she had floaters that required surgically breaking them up. She paid for this procedure.

Lois paid a total of $8,435 for all of the procedures plus $150 for each check-up. But it wasn’t until she was told that she had a mass in one eye that Lois began asking questions. That’s when the ophthalmologist told the secretary to charge OHIP for that visit.

Subsequently, Lois went to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto to investigate the mass in her eye and was told it didn’t exist.

The Newmarket ophthalmologist violated several sections of the Canada Health Care Act including charging this patient for medically needed check-ups; medically needed surgeries; equipment needed for surgery; and not providing Lois with the full information around the fact that patients have the right not to pay for medically unnecessary lenses. Reality is everything was covered by OHIP.

The Ford government has underspent on health care by almost a billion dollars and capped wages all while significantly increasing funding – doubling this funding in the final quarter of the year -- for for-profit clinics and hospitals.

The Canada Health Act protects patients from extra billing and user fees. All medically necessary hospital and physician services are covered by OHIP. As are medically necessary diagnostic tests.

According to Mehra, “The Ford government could have fined the private clinics and doctors in violation of the Canada Health Act and Ontario’s Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act (2004). It has not done so and does not need new legislation to do so. It simply needs to actually enforce the law.”