"There can be no justification for doctors turning away patients or
rationing care. We don't believe Ontario's doctors would let that
happen."
-- Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
So this is where it begins. The end of Ontario's health-care system as we know it. Going out, not with a bang, but a whimper.
For those who've been out of the country, or just plain hibernating, Kathleen Wynne's Liberal Government will--for the first time ever--impose a contract on the doctors of Ontario, instead of having negotiated one with the Ontario Medical Association, on the first of February.
The new deal--I hesitate to call it a "deal" because the doctors haven't agreed to any of this--will feature $580 million in cuts to healthcare spending, including a 2.65% reduction in payments to doctors. Funds previously earmarked for weekend coverage will also be chopped, as will funding for continuing education programs for doctors. There will also be a 1.70% reduction in the fees paid to doctors working in walk-in clinics.
As mentioned, all of this will come into effect on February 1, 2014, assuming ministry lawyers are able to finish dotting i's and crossing t's in time.
Rookie Health Minister Eric Hoskins--himself a doctor--has been particularly busy since talks broke down on January 15, visiting various media outlets in order to explain how he had no choice but to impose these cuts in order to counter the 61% raise in salary doctors have received over the past decade.
Doctors, of course, have received no such raise, but if there's one thing the Wynne Liberals have shown a propensity for, it's perpetrating the Big Lie. Which, in this case, is a doozy.
While it's true that the Liberal Government has dramatically increased the amount of money they've invested in the physician services budget since 2003, when they formed the government--going from approximately $7 billion in 2004 to $13 billion in 2014--it should be pointed out that the province of Ontario has 4,000 more doctors and 1.4 million more patients today than it did when the Liberals took over.
But that's only half the story.
The OHIP schedule of benefits, which is what all provincial governments here in Ontario use to determine what doctors are paid, and which is based upon the OMA's original schedule of fees, dating back to 1922, only covers 47% of the actual recommended fees.
You heard me right--47%. This means the Government of Ontario is paying doctors less than half of what the fee schedule says they should be paying. Forty years ago, that number was 90%. Quite a difference, wouldn't you agree?
But what's most galling for Ontario's 28,000 doctors is that the Wynne Liberals have chosen to punish them this time around, even after they helped the Liberals, if not exactly "fix" our healthcare system, then at least get it off life support. Thanks to the hard work and many sacrifices made by the province's physicians, one million fewer people are today without a doctor than in 2003.
And those waiting lists for hip replacements and cataract surgeries? Pretty much under control. Again, thanks to the investments made by the Liberals and the heroic efforts of our doctors.
But that was then, and this is now.
Thanks in no small part to boondoggles and scandals like eHealth, the ORNGE air ambulance fiasco, and the cancellation of the gas plants, the Wynne Liberals are about to go over a fiscal cliff unless they do something dramatic.
So, come the first of February, they'll be imposing a new contract--not just on doctors, mind you, but on all of us. For the reality is, by making all these cuts unilaterally, the Ontario Government is about to do something no other government has ever dared do in quite such a dramatic way--namely, ration healthcare.
Don't believe me? Here are just a few of the consequences we can expect, as a result of the Wynne Liberals risky and irresponsible move . . .
-- Every March 1, starting in 2016, doctors will be closing their practices until the first of April--when the new fiscal year begins--in order to avoid the inevitable clawbacks that government will impose for exceeding their healthcare allotment.
-- Surgeries will be cancelled or delayed, tests will not be run, and appointments with both family doctors and specialists will be harder to get in a timely fashion.
-- Even worse, can the day be far off when those over a certain age--say 70 or 75--are denied expensive medical care, and/or other interventions and investigations, simply because there isn't enough money to go around?
Sadly, this is what the future will, in all probability, look like. Thanks to the Wynne Liberals, who now own our healthcare system here in Ontario for the next three years, as a result of the contract they are imposing on our doctors, who thankfully had the good sense not to participate in this ridiculous charade.
My advice to everyone? Don't get sick. At least, not in Ontario.
Source: http://www.saultstar.com/2015/01/29/liberal-health-care-plans-a-pipe-dream---column
-- Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
So this is where it begins. The end of Ontario's health-care system as we know it. Going out, not with a bang, but a whimper.
For those who've been out of the country, or just plain hibernating, Kathleen Wynne's Liberal Government will--for the first time ever--impose a contract on the doctors of Ontario, instead of having negotiated one with the Ontario Medical Association, on the first of February.
The new deal--I hesitate to call it a "deal" because the doctors haven't agreed to any of this--will feature $580 million in cuts to healthcare spending, including a 2.65% reduction in payments to doctors. Funds previously earmarked for weekend coverage will also be chopped, as will funding for continuing education programs for doctors. There will also be a 1.70% reduction in the fees paid to doctors working in walk-in clinics.
As mentioned, all of this will come into effect on February 1, 2014, assuming ministry lawyers are able to finish dotting i's and crossing t's in time.
Rookie Health Minister Eric Hoskins--himself a doctor--has been particularly busy since talks broke down on January 15, visiting various media outlets in order to explain how he had no choice but to impose these cuts in order to counter the 61% raise in salary doctors have received over the past decade.
Doctors, of course, have received no such raise, but if there's one thing the Wynne Liberals have shown a propensity for, it's perpetrating the Big Lie. Which, in this case, is a doozy.
While it's true that the Liberal Government has dramatically increased the amount of money they've invested in the physician services budget since 2003, when they formed the government--going from approximately $7 billion in 2004 to $13 billion in 2014--it should be pointed out that the province of Ontario has 4,000 more doctors and 1.4 million more patients today than it did when the Liberals took over.
But that's only half the story.
The OHIP schedule of benefits, which is what all provincial governments here in Ontario use to determine what doctors are paid, and which is based upon the OMA's original schedule of fees, dating back to 1922, only covers 47% of the actual recommended fees.
You heard me right--47%. This means the Government of Ontario is paying doctors less than half of what the fee schedule says they should be paying. Forty years ago, that number was 90%. Quite a difference, wouldn't you agree?
But what's most galling for Ontario's 28,000 doctors is that the Wynne Liberals have chosen to punish them this time around, even after they helped the Liberals, if not exactly "fix" our healthcare system, then at least get it off life support. Thanks to the hard work and many sacrifices made by the province's physicians, one million fewer people are today without a doctor than in 2003.
And those waiting lists for hip replacements and cataract surgeries? Pretty much under control. Again, thanks to the investments made by the Liberals and the heroic efforts of our doctors.
But that was then, and this is now.
Thanks in no small part to boondoggles and scandals like eHealth, the ORNGE air ambulance fiasco, and the cancellation of the gas plants, the Wynne Liberals are about to go over a fiscal cliff unless they do something dramatic.
So, come the first of February, they'll be imposing a new contract--not just on doctors, mind you, but on all of us. For the reality is, by making all these cuts unilaterally, the Ontario Government is about to do something no other government has ever dared do in quite such a dramatic way--namely, ration healthcare.
Don't believe me? Here are just a few of the consequences we can expect, as a result of the Wynne Liberals risky and irresponsible move . . .
-- Every March 1, starting in 2016, doctors will be closing their practices until the first of April--when the new fiscal year begins--in order to avoid the inevitable clawbacks that government will impose for exceeding their healthcare allotment.
-- Surgeries will be cancelled or delayed, tests will not be run, and appointments with both family doctors and specialists will be harder to get in a timely fashion.
-- Even worse, can the day be far off when those over a certain age--say 70 or 75--are denied expensive medical care, and/or other interventions and investigations, simply because there isn't enough money to go around?
Sadly, this is what the future will, in all probability, look like. Thanks to the Wynne Liberals, who now own our healthcare system here in Ontario for the next three years, as a result of the contract they are imposing on our doctors, who thankfully had the good sense not to participate in this ridiculous charade.
My advice to everyone? Don't get sick. At least, not in Ontario.
Source: http://www.saultstar.com/2015/01/29/liberal-health-care-plans-a-pipe-dream---column
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