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REPORT: Private Health Clinics Using Manipulative Tactics to Over-Bill Patients: Ontario Health Coalition Report
Posted: July 17, 2014
(March 25, 2014) Ontario Government’s Plan to Cut Medical Services from Local Public Hospital and Contract Them Out to Private Clinics Called a Significant Threat to Single-Tier Medicare.
Six university student researchers spent the last month working with the Ontario Health Coalition calling through 135 private clinics and hospitals in Ontario to find out whether they are charging patients unlawful fees on top of billing OHIP for medically necessary services. Their findings, released today in a report, “For Health or for Wealth?: The evidence regarding user fees and private clinics in Ontario” show that a significant number of private clinics are both billing OHIP and charging patients fees on top ranging from $50 – $3,500 or more. The coalition warns that the Ontario government’s new plan to cut medical services from local public hospitals and contract them out to private clinics will result in more user fees for patients unless it is stopped. This is a threat to single-tier Medicare and the fundamental principle of the Canadian Health system that access to care should be based on medical need, not wealth. NOTE: A corrected version of the report was uploaded on March 25, 2014 at 10:50 am. Under the Medcan clinic, the word month has been replaced by year. Please disregard the earlier version. We apologize for the error.
