Ontario's Private Clinics Fiasco - Higher costs more corruption

By Staff

November 20^th, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

On November 2nd, a new report, At what Cost? Ontario hospital privatization and the threat to public health care confirmed the negative impact of the Ford government’s plans on Ontario’s public hospitals and patients.

Report author Andrew Longhurst of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) rebuts the government’s rationale for privatization by showing that sufficient funding for public hospitals can significantly improve surgical backlogs.

Among the report’s startling revelations is the massive difference in stated government expenditures on private clinics versus the actual spending.

Days after the report was published, we learned that former Health Minister Christine Elliott, who gave private clinic Don Mills Surgical Unit a 278% funding increase while she was minister, is now a lobbyist for the clinic’s parent company, Clearpoint Health Network. Her official registration says her lobbying goals are to “engage the government in updating and increasing the base funding amount available to Clearpoint.”

A CBC investigation found that procedures at Don Mills Surgical are paid for by the government at double or triple the cost of procedures performed in public hospitals. These findings are the tip of the iceberg of the lack of accountability, higher costs, corruption and profiteering that the Ford government is unleashing with Bill 60.

The Ontario Health Coalition is holding an on-line forum on Tuesday November 28th at 7 pm eastern

If you are interested Please register and fill in the information here (you will receive the Zoom link by email after you register):

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpdemrrzwtHNL1RXFYd_uZv7woAZRskSPf

Join them for this forum to hear from researchers and advocates about how Ford’s reckless policies can be exposed and defeated.

• Andrew Longhurst, research associate, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; author of the recently published report, ‘At What Cost? Ontario hospital privatization and the threat to health care‘
• Pam Parks, nurse, co-chair, Durham Health Coalition
• Kevin Skerrett, Ottawa Health Coalition
• Natalie Mehra, executive director, Ontario Health Coalition

Co-Sponsored by:  Brampton-Caledon Health Coalition, Durham Health Coalition, Grey-Bruce Health Coalition, Halton Health Coalition, Hamilton Health Coalition, Kingston Health Coalition, London Health Coalition, Mississauga Health Coalition, North Bay Health Coalition, Ottawa Health Coalition, Oxford Coalition for Social Justice, Peterborough Health Coalition, Port Dover Health Coalition, Renfrew County Health Coalition, Simcoe Health Coalition, Waterloo Health Coalition.