Ford government not cracking down on doctors’ overcharges and failing to fix doctor shortage, auditor finds

Watchdog Shelley Spence diagnosed a lack of effort to crack down on an estimated $1 billion in potential overcharges by physicians — including 59 who billed for more than 24 hours in a day.

Dec. 2, 2025

By Rob Ferguson Queen’s Park Bureau, and Robert Benzie Queen’s Park Bureau Chief

Ontario’s auditor general Shelley Spence speaks to media following the release of her annual report at the Ontario legislature in Toronto, on Dec. 2, 2025. Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press

Premier Doug Ford’s government is ailing on health care by failing to get more Ontarians a

family doctor, ensuring prompt appointments, overseeing OHIP billings and distributing masks to hospitals before they expire, says the auditor general. 

In her annual report to the legislature, watchdog Shelley Spence also diagnosed a lack of effort to investigate an estimated $1 billion in potential overcharges by physicians — including 59 who billed for more than 24 hours in a day.

And there was “limited oversight” that leads to patients paying out-of-pocket for services insured by OHIP, particularly at some cataract clinics.

“The number of Ontarians on wait-lists as of January 2025 represented only 11 per cent of the estimated number of Ontarians in need of a family practitioner,” Spence said following the release of her 483-page report.

Among her discoveries is that $1.4 billion of masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) has been written off since 2021 because it did not meet quality standards or expired before it could be used by hospitals and long-term care homes. Some products have been incinerated.

Read more at the Toronto Star

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Read the full report,

Oversight of Access to Primary Care, here.