BRIEFING NOTE: The Ford Government’s Plan to Privatize Ontario’s Public Hospital Services
Posted: September 3, 2024
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On January 16, 2023, Premier Doug Ford announced his plan to open new private for-profit day hospitals in three cities, expand other for-profit clinics and shunt tens of millions in public funding to private clinics and hospitals. The premier said that 50% of the surgeries done in our public hospitals could be cut and privatized. This would devastate our vital public hospital services unless Ontarians stop the Ford government from privatizing them.
For 100 years, Ontario has built our system of local public hospitals that operate on a non-profit basis, in the public interest. Under the cover of the pandemic, the Ford government began to make plans to privatize Ontario’s public hospital services, including surgeries and diagnostics to private for-profit hospitals and clinics.
In July 2021, they increased funding to private clinics by $24 million. In January 2021, they announced new licenses for “independent health facilities” (which is the name for private clinics, 98% of which are for-profit) to perform eye surgeries in place of public hospitals. The Ministry of Health issued a “call for applications” and clarified applicants could be a “corporation” rather than a doctor: “The Applicant could be a corporation that operates a Health Facility that meets the criteria for submitting an Application.”
In 2023, they awarded thousands of surgeries to private clinics. The private clinics that were awarded the licenses are TLC Laser Eye Centres in Waterloo, Herzig Eye Institute and Focus Eye Centre in Ottawa, and Windsor Surgical Centre.
In June 2024, the Ministry of Health opened applications to issue more licenses for private MRI and CT scan clinics in the fall. Once again, corporations could apply. In August 2024, the Ministry announced a new round of applications for clinic licenses to privatize 60,000 gastrointestinal endoscopies. They plan to issue licenses in early 2025.
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