Health care privatization is already happening

Re: Open letter to

MPP Dave Smith

A lot of my friends are seniors these days. One of them has developed cataracts in both eyes. Her optometrist told her it’s important to get cataract surgery right away and asked her to choose what kind of surgery she wanted. Her options were: basic at $150 per eye, upgraded at $265 per eye, and, believe it or not, presbyopic refractive surgery at $4,100 per eye.

The doctor operates at both Peterborough Regional Health Centre and at a clinic in Lindsay. “Both locations offer state-ofthe-art equipment for performing safe and effective cataract surgery. All options are equally safe,” the optometrist’s leaflet states. So, why such expense?

“Timeline and refractive predictability will vary between sites,” says the leaflet. The assistant says the basic and upgraded options have a waiting list of 1214 months. But my friend would only have to wait one to two months for the presbyopic one. So she has to pay to get treated quickly.

In tiny print at the bottom of the leaflet it says: “No one is required to pay anything to access cataract surgery in Ontario.” And yet, my friend was asked for her health card. This sounds like double billing: bill the patient and bill OHIP!

Doubtless there are subtleties of eye surgery that I’m missing, but long wait times for the cheaper surgery and double billing are clear indications of forprofit medicine and how it rips off the people of Ontario.

I’m proud of my friend because she chose the cheaper one. She said, “What about the poor bloke down the hall who can’t afford it? Does he go blind while waiting 12-14 months for his surgery? It’s immoral to offer faster access for those who can afford it.”

MPP Smith, your Progressive Conservative party has announced its plan to allow private facilities to perform surgeries and diagnostics. Will OHIP be billed as well as the patient? Will most surgeons work in these private hospitals causing long waiting lists for surgery in public hospitals for those who can’t pay? Shame!

Gay Bell, Hedonics Road