The NDP claim the Wynne Liberals are turning a blind eye to privately run, for-profit health care clinics in Ontario. The accusation comes from the party’s health critic France Gelinas while trying to get answers on what the Liberals have learned about these clinics through regular monitoring. Gelinas says the privately run clinics are operating under the noses of the Liberals and the government is doing nothing to stop this. She says under this two-tiered system, people bypass wait periods by paying the clinics for treatments. Gelinas, who represents Nickel Belt, says while that benefits the person paying for the treatment because they go to the head of the line, it creates longer wait times for other patients. “Today there are private clinics charging $1,000 to allow people to jump the queue,” said Gelinas in the Legislature. “There are for-profit companies charging up to $100 for tele-medicine appointments.” Gelinas says this creates a dilemma for some people. She says for some, their pain is so great that they can’t wait for treatment anymore through regular appointments so they pay clinics to treat them ahead of others.
Gelinas said in the Legislature that the government was monitoring these types of clinics and wanted an update on the investigation. However rather than respond to her demand, Health Minister Doctor Eric Hoskins ran off a shopping list of the services Ontarians receive that are below the national wait times. Those include PET and CAT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds.
