10-02-06, 8:53 am
Speaking at Toronto's Economic Club, Smitherman gave a strident defense of the public health system against Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Brian Day and the backers of two-tier health care.
The CTF quickly denounced the speech as election posturing. As a CTF statement said, 'Minister Smitherman has attempted to paint Dr. Day, the CMA, other provinces, and federal Health Minister Tony Clement as antagonists because they have taken steps (in some cases the tiniest of steps) to accept the private sector as a viable alternative to, and a vehicle to improve, the public health monopoly....
'Smitherman and Premier Dalton McGuinty continue to publicly deny that the private sector has any role in the future of Ontario's health care system. Yet (s)ince taking power in 2003, the McGuinty government has privatized long-term care facilities and announced 30 public-private partnership hospitals. Furthermore, the Liberal government has privatized routine eye examinations and chiropractic services... The Ontario government and its citizens spent $19-billion on private sector health services in 2005.'
The CTF's conclusion? 'It is time for Minister Smitherman and Premier McGuinty to publicly accept that privately delivered health care has already contributed to renewing the health care system and will have an even larger role in the future - for they have already done so behind closed doors at the cabinet table.'
Taking a different tack, OHC director Natalie Mehra said 'We are extremely pleased with the Minister's unabashed opposition to two-tier health care. The Minister echoed our deep concerns that the for-profit clinics and queue-jumping proposed by Brian Day and the for-profit health industry would damage the public health system...
'But this is not the whole story,' said Mehra. 'While (the McGuinty government) has moved to stop some high-profile private clinics and to promote public and non-profit reforms, it has also gone further than any other jurisdiction in Canada regarding P3 hospitals and homecare privatization.'
The OHC says the McGuinty government's record is 'mixed.' On the positive side, the government has turned for-profit MRI/CT clinics into non-profits, stalled the two-tier Copeman Clinics, forbid for-profit American diagnostic companies from crossing into Canada, supported Community Health Centres and primary healthcare reform, and spoken out against two-tier healthcare.
On the other hand, the government has promoted privatization in many ways. It has announced over thirty P3 hospitals, and established long-term privatization and competitive bidding in homecare. The government's hospital budget balancing scheme promotes cuts to clinical and non-clinical hospital services. 'Market models' have been implemented in hospitals, including bidding systems for key procedures, private specialty clinics and centralized support services with no legal prohibition on for-profit takeover.
The OHC has called for continued public pressure to block the privatisation trend. One recent victory was the delayed opening of for-profit Copeman Healthcare medical clinics in Ontario.
Ontario Nurses Association President Linda Haslam-Stroud said 'It would be our choice that they would not even be opened. The bottom line is, there are only so many health care dollars to be spent. Why should we be putting our health care dollars into the private pockets of corporations such as Copeman's clinics?'
The Vancouver-based company had planned to open clinics in London, Toronto and Ottawa in September. But president Don Copeman now says the London and Ottawa clinics now won't open until next May, and the Toronto clinic has been delayed until December.
The clinics, which include the services of a family doctor, would charge a $1,200 enrolment fee and yearly dues of $2,300. The company said patients would also have access to specialists in fields including cardiology, urology, orthopedics, neurology, oncology, gynecology, sports injury and pain management.
Smitherman warned that medicare laws ban companies from charging patients fees before they receive a service covered by the provincial health insurance plan. However, the health ministry says that the company could take steps to meet the requirements of Ontario law, so the issue is far from closed.
From People's Voice
