![]() “The way to stop this is not to bring in more, it's to use the existing capacity we have everywhere across the province in our public hospitals in order to clear surgical backlogs and improve access.” “Privatization has ballooned under the Ford government and this is the last stage in an ongoing move to privatize piece-by-piece-by-piece our public health system,” she said. Mehra argues that if clinics don’t mix between privately offered services and OHIP services, those receiving publicly-funded procedures shouldn’t be subject to extra charges or manipulated to purchase “medically unnecessary stuff attached to the surgery.” “What we're saying is that privatizing the surgeries and diagnostics is a bad idea period,” she said, adding that private clinics should have the option to either only provide OHIP services or provide private care. However Mehra said she doesn’t believe the oversight measures will be enough. “Integrated health centres will now have to post any uninsured charges both online or in-person and every community surgical and diagnostic centre must have a process for receiving and responding to patient complaints" "We are expanding oversight by bringing in this new legislation,” she said. In response to a question in the legislature Monday, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health Robin Martin suggested the Your Health Act is “remedying a problem that has existed in public hospitals as well as clinics.” “Prescribed documents”, which will likely include service fees, will be posted on the clinic’s website, the government added. Officials have said a clinic will need to provide information about uninsured services, including the costs, up front. The legislation doesn’t, however, prevent upselling. The Ontario government has made it clear that patients will not have to pay out of pocket for these services and that clinics cannot accept payments to jump the queue. This includes inspections of clinics and a complaint system that will allow patients to report if they were overcharged or not provided the correct care. “Expert organizations” will work with Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health to ensure quality and safety standards are met, the government said. These new community surgical and diagnostic centres will need to prove in their application they have consulted with other health partners and will be integrated into the current health system. ![]() What you need to know about Ontario's health-care legislation.“It should not be like going to a car mechanic when you go into your doctor's office, where you're told that there are a range of things that you need and the patient has no idea how to measure the veracity of these claims.”īill 60-also known as the Y our Health Act-allows both for-profit and not-for-profit clinics to apply for a license in order to perform certain surgeries under OHIP, including cataract surgeries, MRI and CT scans, minimally invasive gynecological surgeries and, eventually, knee and hip replacements. “The Canada Health Act was meant to protect patients from exactly these types of fees and this kind of snake oil salesman,” Mehra said. The costs, according to the coalition, were anywhere from a few hundred dollars to over $8,000. ![]() In others, patients were reportedly told they would have to wait longer for services covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). In some instances, patients said they were urged to get upgraded lenses, told they had to incur the costs of eye measurements, and invoiced for contrast dye needed for imaging. Get the latest local updates right to your inbox.Download our app to get local alerts on your device.The examples provided include payments for cataract surgeries as well as MRIs and other prescribed diagnostic services. The Ontario Health Coalition, which advocates for publicly-funded health care while representing more than 500 member organizations and individuals, released a compilation of testimonies from patients who say they were forced to pay out of pocket for procedures that should be covered under their insurance. “The decision of the Ford government to privatize our public hospital services is a political choice,” Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, told reporters on Monday. Ontario health advocates say they will fight to stop the Doug Ford government from allowing more private clinics to conduct OHIP-covered surgeries, alleging the bill will result in further “manipulative upselling” of medically unnecessary services.
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