In response to new research showing that wealthy Ontarians are disproportionately benefiting from for-profit clinics, CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, OCHU-CUPE, is demanding the province halt public funding for private surgeries and invest in cataracts provided by public hospitals.
A study by the Canadian Medical Associations Journal, CMAJ, released yesterday says that surgical rates in private, for-profit clinics increased 22% for the wealthiest Ontarians but reduced by nine per cent for the lowest income earners.
“This is just what we have been warning about based on the experience in other countries,” said Michael Hurley, president of OCHU-CUPE. “Our health care system is gradually being sold off to investors who can profit substantially by serving the affluent at the expense of ordinary people. This two-tier model goes against the foundational principle of public health care in Canada: access based on need, not on ability to pay.”
The CMAJ study reinforced findings of an April 2024 Ontario Health Coalition report, which highlighted many examples of illegal upselling at private clinics. This included instances of people being billed up to $8,000.
Hurley said that private clinics were not only discriminating against people of lower socioeconomic status, but were also gouging taxpayers. A 2023 CBC investigation found that privately delivered surgeries were about two to three times more costly than the same procedures performed in public hospitals.
The union is also concerned that the government’s increased funding for private clinics is taking resources away from the public system, where staffing shortages are increasingly disruptive for patient care.
“Our taxes should be invested in public hospitals,” said Sharon Richer, OCHU-CUPE Secretary-Treasurer. “Research has shown that we can reduce waitlists by expanding operating hours in existing facilities. That is clearly the most cost-effective use of resources while also being equitable for patients. But the fact that this government is opting for privatization tells us that opening a market is their primary goal here, not solving the waiting list problem.”
In October, the union will be launching a province-wide tour to campaign against the government’s deceptive “trojan horse” policy of characterizing privatization as a panacea, while it wreaks havoc on the public health care system.