Although the Ontario Health Coalition brought thousands of people to the front lawn of Queen's Park last week, NDP health critic France Gélinas said the message was missed by the Conservative government.
Gélinas stood in the Ontario Legislature to say that Ontario residents want the government to stop privatizing the health care system.
"Speaker, on [Sept. 25] the Ontario Health Coalition brought almost 10,000 people on the front lawn of our legislature. The entire NDP caucus was present, but not one member of the Conservative Party wanted to hear their message. The thousands of people who came, spoke with one voice. Their message to the government on behalf of millions of Ontarians is clear; stop privatizing our health care system," said Gélinas.
Gélinas said many of those who attended the protest shared stories of being charged for health services at private clinics, when she said those services should be free.
She mentioned the examples of one person paying $200 to a nutritionist before they could get the free colonoscopy they needed. She said another person paid $1,000 for the lens their ophthalmologist "preferred" to use, but it was not covered by OHIP.
Gélinas charged that many clinics double bill for their services and there is no accountability for their actions.
She said that despite the obvious faults with privatizing health care, the government continues to support private clinics. She said the private clinics charge extra fees and poach health care workers from the public sector with better wages and better working conditions.
