Ford Government Will Look To Outside Clinics To Clear Surgery Backlog

The Ford government will look to use private and not-for-profit clinics to clear the surgery backlog but you won’t pay.

The Ford government is going to look to private and non-profit clinics outside of hospitals to clear up a surgical backlog. While details haven’t been released, that nugget was included in a document released last Thursday explaining how the government plans to deal with the current health staffing crisis and keep hospitals open when COVID numbers rise again in the fall and winter months.

A report from the Ontario Medical Association earlier this year estimated that the health system had a backlog of 22 million services ranging from diagnostic testing to treatment and surgeries. That report called for evolving the model “to include a greater portion of services delivered in community-based specialty settings outside of the hospitals.”

Now the Ford government is confirming they are heading in that direction. The government says part of the plan for dealing with the backlog will be to distribute high demand surgeries among all surgeons instead of having some with very long wait lists and looking to community clinics.

“We will also consider options for further increasing surgical capacity by increasing the number of OHIP covered surgical procedures performed at independent health facilities,” the government’s new report states.

The opposition will yell and scream that this is the privatization of our health system, it’s not. Our system isn’t based on the idea  that the government runs every part of the health system, it is based on the idea that there is a single payer, the government.

Paying with your OHIP card

We pay for our health care by paying taxes, the government pays for services we receive whether it is through a private, public or nonprofit provider.

When you visit your family doctor, you are visiting a private clinic – your doctor isn’t a government employee, They pay for the rent of their office space, and they pay the nurses and receptionists through the fee they receive from the government to examine you.

If the government moves forward with allowing simple surgeries like cataracts, hip and knee replacements to be performed at independent health facilities it will work the same way.

“If there is a way delivering better publicly funded health care, we’re going to do it,” Ford said last week.

Ford and Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health,  insisted last week that any changes in how services are delivered won’t see anyone paying out of their own pocket.

“Make no mistake about it, everyone’s going to be paying with their OHIP card, not their credit card,” Ford said last week, a sentiment Jones reiterated as well.

As Jones announced her plan to stabilize the system for the coming year, she said “We can no longer accept the status quo. And there are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what. They’re ideologically opposed to change or improvement.”