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LETTER: Ford has no mandate to privatize health-care
Posted: August 23, 2022
(August 22, 2022)
By: Shirley Roebuck in Chatham This Week
Last week, the Minister of Health and the Minister of LTC announced new legislation, entitled “More Beds, Better Care”. It will be put to a vote, probably in the second week of September.
All of the regulations have not been made public yet, but basically the legislation proposes to allow more private for-profit clinics to perform surgeries, and it allows hospitals to move a patient who has been classified as an alternative level of care patient (ALC) to the first available LTC bed, despite the person’s wishes.
Currently, a person may create a list of up to five LTC homes that they are willing to go to. The list is usually made up of local homes. The new legislation will mandate that the person could be sent to the first available LTC bed in Ontario, without their consent.
Many private for-profit LTC homes in Ontario had terrible COVID records, and most deaths from COVID were from these homes. Naturally, now, many people do not wish to go to these homes.
Premier Doug Ford’s government has done nothing to hold these homes accountable or improve LTC. The private for-profit businesses (both LTC and private surgical clinics) are supporters and donors to the Conservatives.
This is the privatization of healthcare in Ontario that Ford stated would not happen; he and the Minister of Health said people will only have to show their OHIP card at private clinics. Most private clinics in Ontario charge extra fees, and costs. Presently, ALC patients have a say, or a choice if you will, as to which LTC home they are sent to. This legislation takes away their consent, a basic Charter Right.
The “More Beds, Better Care” legislation does not help or protect the public. It does not ease the strain on our public hospitals. There are only 1,180 ALC patients in hospitals in Ontario. This will do little to help ER wait times or wait times for admission to hospitals or ICUs. It will enrich private for-profit businesses.
The Conservatives won a majority in the June election. Yet fewer people voted than in the previous election. has no mandate to privatize our public healthcare system, which can be saved by proper funding. Give our tax dollars to the health system, and not to private businesses.
It is everyone’s responsibility to fight back against privatization of healthcare! Before the June election, many people couldn’t believe that the Conservatives would privatize healthcare; now, the Ford government has given you proof.
Shirley Roebuck
Chairperson
Chatham Kent Health Coalition
