ONTARIO – Would you be willing to pay out of pocket for medical services?
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones seems to think so as she tells the Canadian press, “all options are on the table.”
Staff shortages are causing distress on all fronts in the health care system. Emergency departments are closing for hours or days at a time while primary care departments are struggling to meet the demand for care. Even home care is affected as the lack of community nurses and personal support workers aren’t available to meet the caseload.
In a statement made by Ontario NDP Health Care critic France Gélinas, the Official Opposition is horrified that Health Minister Sylvia Jones suggested to the media multiple times Wednesday that health care privatization is under consideration by the Doug Ford government.
“Privatizing health care would be a disaster for people’s health. It would mean losing nurses, doctors and PSWs leaving the public system to work privately, making the health care crisis even worse. It could mean that people are forced to pay out of pocket, or wait longer for care,” said Gélinas.
Privatization doesn’t work. It only opens up more barriers between the upper class who can afford to see a doctor promptly and the lower class who will need to either wait to see a doctor or just opt not to seek medical attention at all.
“The health care crisis we are in is due to gross underfunding and cuts by the Conservative government and the Liberals before them, said Gélinas. “The way to fix it is for the Ford government to finally answer the pleas of overworked and burnt out health care workers, health experts and patients — and invest in recruiting, returning, retaining and respecting healthcare workers.”
