Cataract surgery is covered under OHIP, but patients say officials from private clinics strongly imply the OHIP lenses are inferior quality to more expensive ones, that they require tests that are not covered, and if they pay more their surgery will be expedited.<\/p>\n
Skerrett said for-profit companies have a conflict of interest when it comes to advising patients about their health needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are doing this for profit, you have a problematic conflict of interest where you are incentivized by money to sell services and products that are not needed or to exaggerate the merit of a particular surgery, particular lenses, particular products because you make money from it. This is the kind of conflict of interest that our public medicare system is designed to protect patients from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among patients who faced extra charges for cataract surgery is Diana Ralph, a retired associate professor of social work at Carleton University who was referred to a private clinic in Ottawa. She said she felt pressured to pay extra for lenses after an opthamologist and sales representative implied that she would be left with inferior vision if she went with the lens that was covered by OHIP. They strongly recommended options ranging from $1,300 to $4,000 per eye. They also suggested that if she opted for a more expensive option she could have surgery within six months as opposed to more than a year for basic cataract surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis felt like a bribe to queue jump,\u201d said Ralph.<\/p>\n
She said she reluctantly agreed to the options that would cost $1,300 per eye and only after that was told it would likely still take a year or more for surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt offended by the dishonest and manipulative hard sell.\u201d<\/p>\n
She eventually decided to go with another clinic and is scheduled for surgery in a few weeks.<\/p>\n Harten said his nephew, in his 30s, was almost blind because of cataracts. He was told he could have surgery on one eye within weeks, at a cost of $3,400. The family agreed to the cost because the need was so dire. A second surgery is schedule for later this year, to be covered by OHIP, Harten said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have heard Premier Ford state on numerous occasions that Ontarians only need their OHIP card and not a credit card to receive medical care. That is not true. Ontario has a two-tiered medical system. If you have the cash, you go to a private clinic, which is like jumping to the front of the line,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are allowing our government to chip away at our medical system until it reaches the point that citizens give up in frustration and go out of country or to private clinics to receive timely medical care. If allowed to continue, the OHIP system will collapse and private insurers will control the medical framework, and we will have a system similar to the U.S. Is that what the citizens of Ontario want?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Still, critics have complained that patients who pay more because they were upsold on more expensive services that aren\u2019t covered by OHIP are not protected and it has been one of the most common patient complaints.<\/p>\n