{"id":30698,"date":"2025-06-07T09:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T13:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=30698"},"modified":"2025-06-19T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T14:12:33","slug":"there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics"},"content":{"rendered":"

(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall)<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying between a couple hundred dollars to thousands for operations that should be free through their OHIP coverage, patients and advocacy groups say.<\/p>\n

Click here for the full article<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Note: if you have a library card, you should be able to read this article online by going to your local library’s website or in-person at your local library branch. You can also click here to go to a website called ProQuest<\/a><\/span>, then click on “Log in through your library to access more features” at the top of the page to read the article online. If you need assistance, please contact your local library.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying between a couple hundred dollars to thousands for operations that should be free through their OHIP coverage, patients and advocacy groups say. Click here for the full article Note: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics - Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-07T13:39:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-19T14:12:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-07T13:39:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-19T14:12:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":145,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"OHC in the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics - Ontario Health Coalition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-07T13:39:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-19T14:12:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"description\":\"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"width\":478,\"height\":240,\"caption\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/OntarioHealthC\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ontariohealthcoalition\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@ontariohealthc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\",\"name\":\"admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics - Ontario Health Coalition","description":"(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics - Ontario Health Coalition","og_description":"(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/","og_site_name":"Ontario Health Coalition","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","article_published_time":"2025-06-07T13:39:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-19T14:12:33+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4"},"headline":"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics","datePublished":"2025-06-07T13:39:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-19T14:12:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/"},"wordCount":145,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"articleSection":["OHC in the News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/","name":"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics - Ontario Health Coalition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-07T13:39:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-19T14:12:33+00:00","description":"(June 7, 2025) By: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star (behind a paywall) Across Ontario, people go in for cataract surgery at private clinics and end up paying","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/there-is-something-wrong-patients-say-they-are-paying-out-of-pocket-for-cataract-surgeries-at-private-clinics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018There is something wrong\u2019: Patients say they are paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","description":"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","width":478,"height":240,"caption":"Ontario Health Coalition"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","https:\/\/x.com\/OntarioHealthC","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ontariohealthcoalition","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@ontariohealthc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4","name":"admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30698"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30705,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30698\/revisions\/30705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}