A new report concludes P3 hospitals in Ontario will likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars more than publicly owned hospitals. It also raises serious questions about the impact these added financial obligations will have on the quality of care and access to other needed medical services.
Issues raised by Public Private Partnerships in Ontario’s hospital sector was written by Lewis Auerbach, a former Director in the Audit Operations Branch for the Auditor General of Canada.
Even with the scant information the provincial government has made public, the news isn’t good. The hospitals will likely cost millions more each, and those added costs could well crowd out needed spending in other parts of the health system.
Auerbach says arguing there are no public funds, and thus no alternative to P3s, is “bogus” and “a completely self-imposed constraint.” The full report can be downloaded from http://cupe.ca/downloads/p3_auerbach_eng.pdf.
