Moving public health services to for-profit clinics raises ‘legitimate concerns’: Duclos | 24CA News

Ontario’s controversial plan to develop the non-public supply of public well being care raises “legitimate concerns” about whether or not diverting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer {dollars} into for-profit clinics may erode equitable entry to public well being companies, says federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos.

Speaking to reporters in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday, Duclos mentioned that Ottawa has no intention of “micromanaging” provincial and territorial hospitals and well being techniques and that he believes all well being ministers throughout the nation wish to uphold the ideas of the Canada Health Act.

However, he says conversations are wanted to make sure transferring extra public well being companies into the non-public sector doesn’t erode the correct that each one Canadians must equitable well being care entry, which is enshrined in that federal laws.

“There has to be a discussion as to whether investing in the private provision of health care services weakens the public provision of public health-care services, and that’s an important discussion to have,” Duclos mentioned.

The federal well being minister was reacting to a three-step plan introduced Monday by the Doug Ford authorities to spend hundreds of thousands to maneuver extra well being procedures to personal clinics in Ontario as a approach to deal with lengthy ready lists.

Initially, the initiative will see easy, non-invasive procedures dealt with by some 900 privately operated surgical and diagnostic clinics presently working in Ontario. Future steps of the plan will see hip and knee replacements additionally handed over to for-profit clinics.

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Breaking down the potential privatization of sure surgical procedures in Ontario

This transfer alone may present a windfall of over $500 million yearly to personal well being clinics, based mostly on figures from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research that present Ontario performs roughly 32,000 knee replacements and 25,000 hip replacements yearly, at a median value of between $8,000 and $10,000 per process.

Ford confused all surgical procedures and assessments might be paid for by the taxpayer-funded Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) and that nobody can pay for these procedures with their bank cards.

The Ontario plan follows initiatives which were or are being enacted in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Quebec and New Brunswick, the place some public well being companies are offered by non-public clinics or operators however funded by the province.

Duclos acknowledged Tuesday that pressing motion is required to alleviate important pressures in well being techniques throughout Canada as a result of staffing shortages and lengthy wait lists for care — all of which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But he says a part of his function as federal well being minister is to uphold the Canada Health Act, which incorporates ideas that stipulate all Canadians ought to have equitable entry to well being care companies and that medically mandatory care have to be offered based mostly on want, not an individual’s skill to pay.

“There are obviously conversations around whether the measures that were announced (Monday) in Ontario and similar measures that may be put into place and have been put into place in other places in Canada — (whether) these measures will keep ensuring equitable access,” Duclos mentioned.

“These are legitimate concerns that people are expressing.”

Duclos added that these issues lengthen to the query of whether or not privatization of health-care supply “may weaken the public system and that if that were to happen, that it would indeed create issues of equitable access to health care services in this country.”

Critics and health-care advocates argue Ontario’s plan is a not-so-stealthy step towards privatizing well being care they usually fear it — and different initiatives prefer it throughout the nation — may siphon nurses and different specialists away from already chronically under-staffed public hospitals.

“For-profit health care is never the answer. Doctors and nurses know this,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh mentioned in a tweet Monday.

“Will the prime minister stand up for public health care or let Doug Ford cannibalize the system and give taxpayers’ money to profiteers?”

Five main Ontario well being care unions issued a joint assertion opposing Ontario’s plan Monday, saying they consider sufferers will wait even longer for care below the proposed plan after front-line public workers are lured to personal clinics, the place they’re usually paid extra by firms whose main duty is to their shareholders.

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Legislation launched in New Brunswick to permit surgical procedures outdoors of hospital

“Rather than divert funding from public hospital care to privatized clinics, the government must invest in our cherished public health care system, implement a substantive public hospital staffing retention program and fund its public hospitals at least at the rate of the Canadian hospital average to deal with population growth, ageing and inflationary pressures,” the unions mentioned in a joint assertion Monday.

While Duclos acknowledged these issues Tuesday, he stopped wanting saying whether or not he thought it was applicable for taxpayer {dollars} for use to fund for-profit clinics.

Meanwhile, he mentioned he has been working carefully with provincial and territorial well being ministers on a deal to extend the Canada Health Transfer in alternate for extra “tangible results” from the provinces in quite a few key areas.

Those areas embody: higher entry to household medical doctors; lowering backlogs to diagnostics and surgical procedures; enhanced retention packages for health-care workers; extra funding for psychological well being; and offering extra entry to shared well being knowledge.

Ottawa’s makes an attempt to achieve an settlement with the provinces comes amid ongoing calls for from all 13 provincial and territorial premiers to extend well being care funding with no strings hooked up.

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted that “positive steps forward” on a health-care deal could be introduced “in the very near future,” however on Tuesday, Duclos threw chilly water on the notion such a deal was all however finalized.

“Lots of work still needs to be done before we come to an agreement on the importance of those results and how we’re going to achieve them over the next few weeks,” Duclos mentioned.

“We are all looking forward to a final agreement at some point, but we are all very mindful that there is still a lot of work to do before we get there.”

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