REPEAT/MEDIA ADVISORY - Patients who have been extra-billed for surgeries in private for-profit clinics demand accountability in the Ontario election: Press conferences in towns across Ontario

/EIN News/ -- TORONTO, OTTAWA, LONDON and WINDSOR, Ontario, Feb. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ontario Health Coalition is holding press conferences with patients who have been charged for cataract surgeries or manipulated into paying for medically unnecessary add-ons in private clinics. The Coalition is calling on all political parties to make clear commitments to stop the privatization of our health care services and penalize those that are charging patients illegally and unethically.

When & Where:

All press conferences will be on Tuesday, February 18. At each press conference there will be patients who will tell media about how have been recently charged hundreds or thousands of dollars in the private clinics.
Local times and locations are as follows:

• Ottawa: 1 p.m. Meeting room, Elmvale Acres branch -Ottawa Public Library, 1910 Saint Laurent Blvd.
• Windsor: 1 p.m. Drouillard Room, Gino and Liz Marcus Community Complex, 1168 Drouillard Rd.
• London: 2 p.m. Cherryhill branch- London Public Library, 301 Oxford St. W.
• Toronto: 12 p.m. Volunteers’ Lounge, Greenpeace Head Office, 33 Cecil St. (Parking on the street outside or in the lot behind the building.)

When he denied that his privatization plan would lead to two-tier medicare, Doug Ford promised unequivocally, "No Ontarian will ever have to pay with a credit card. They will pay with their OHIP card." He garnered headlines across Ontario with that statement on January 11, 2023 while he announced his plans to expand the for-profit privatization of surgeries and diagnostics. In direct contradiction to Ford’s pledge, patients are now routinely charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars in private clinics and nothing is being done to stop it, reports the Ontario Health Coalition.

Most of the for-profit clinics that have opened and expanded to date under Ford’s plan are cataract surgery clinics. His government has given a number of large volume contracts to for-profit cataract clinics including at least one chain that is charging patients $3,000 – $4,000+ per eye for cataract surgeries in different communities across Ontario.

“This has to be an election issue. It is illegal to charge patients for needed surgeries. It is illegal to sell queue jumping for the wealthy to get health care first and push everyone else back in line. It is both illegal and unethical to manipulate patients into buying unnecessary services pretending they are needed, or are “upgrades” when they actually serve different purposes, or that outcomes are poor if they do not pay, and/or to lie to patients about the wait times for surgery in public hospitals in order to convince them to pay thousands of dollars to get access to care,” noted Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition which is a non-partisan citizens group that has advocated to safeguard and improve public health care for more than 40 years.

“Let us be absolutely clear. No Ontarian can be charged for their cataract surgery, including the unique lens they need for that surgery and the eye measurement tests and eye drops needed for that surgery. Yet elderly patients are being required to pay increasingly outrageous amounts of money for their surgeries in violation of our medicare laws that explicitly make such charges illegal,” she reported, asking the media to please help make this clear to patients.

“Doug Ford must be accountable for his government’s record on health care privatization and the dismantling and privatization of our public health care must stop.”

The Coalition is warning that patients will be subject to even more exorbitant charges for joint replacement surgeries, MRIs, CTs and other services if Ford’s plan to expand privatization continues, noting that there are clear alternatives. The Coalition gathered data from across Ontario and released a report showing that Ontario’s public hospitals have operating rooms that are sitting unused because they are not funded to hire staff and run them full time, while the government has shifting millions of public dollars to expand for-profit clinics that are both charging OHIP and charging patients extra user fees on top. Ontario funds its public hospitals at the lowest rate per person of any province.

For more information:
Ontario & Toronto - Natalie Mehra (416) 230-6402 (cell);
London - Peter Bergmanis (519) 860-4403;
Windsor – Patrick Hannon (519) 796-0410;
Ottawa – Nancy Parker (613) 875-0474.