The 'braintrust' in the Doug Ford government has decided that the way out of our healthcare crisis is to offer more opportunities for privatized operations.
As the Ford government strategized ways to cut down on the COVID-19 surgical backlog, provincial health officials set aside a small pot of public funding for private hospitals and independent heath facilities, according to documents obtained by Global News.
A Ministry of Health presentation on the province’s surgical and diagnostic recovery reveals that the Ford government planned to increase the role of two private hospitals as part [of a] journey back to pre-pandemic levels.
The document said the two private hospitals — Don Mills Surgical Unit and Clearpoint Surgical Toronto — had been given $8 million over the past two years “to achieve over 3,300 additional surgeries.”
Another $5 million in public funds has been earmarked for 2,100 procedures at the private hospitals in the 2022-23 year, the slide said.
According to the Premier, there is really nothing to see here:
“I don’t even like the word private because it’s really not — I can assure you; no Ontarian will ever have to pay with a credit card, they will pay with their OHIP card,” the premier said, noting that independent health facilities would be called upon to take “the burden” off hospitals.
All of which ignores the fact that the pool of personnel for these private entities is the same as for public hospitals and clinics. Increase the former and you deplete the latter.
Not so, says Mr. Ford. But there is that pesky problem of his credibility. In light of the premier's betrayal of his 'solemn' promise not to open up the Greenbelt to development, what are we to make of this?
There will be “safeguards” to prevent an exodus of doctors and nurses from hospitals when Premier Doug Ford unveils a plan for them to do more surgeries at independent clinics in “their spare time,” a senior government official says.
And then there is this, er, testimony, culled from all of the people who allegedly whisper in Ford's ear but never share in the public arena:
“I’ll never forget I talked to a surgeon … and he said, ‘Doug, you know, my problem is I don’t have operating-room time.’ And he said his boss told him, ‘Just go golfing,’ instead of … finding another avenue, another operating room,’” the premier told reporters.
“And he says ‘I want to help people. I also want to earn more income.’”
Privatization is the Ford government's ideology of choice. There is little, so the myth goes, that can't be solved with the right entrepreneurial spirit and pursuit of profit. Perhaps, however, the following, a sad story from the United States where privatized medicine is worshipped, can serve as a cautionary tale for those capable of sober reflection:
