{"id":30737,"date":"2025-06-16T23:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T03:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=30737"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:18:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:18:45","slug":"private-health-care-clinics-leading-to-inequality-of-access-cupe-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/private-health-care-clinics-leading-to-inequality-of-access-cupe-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Private health-care clinics leading to inequality of access, CUPE says"},"content":{"rendered":"

(June 16, 2025)<\/p>\n

By: Elliot Ferguson, The Kingston Whig Standard<\/p>\n

Privatization of cataract surgery has resulted in uneven access to the procedure and increased its cost, the Canadian Union of Public Employees says.<\/em><\/p>\n

Five years of increased government funding of private health care has increased the inequality of access for cataract surgery, according to Canada\u2019s largest public sector union.<\/p>\n

And the Canadian Union of Public Employees\u2019 Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE) said the government\u2019s plans to expand private surgeries is part of an effort to privatize the province\u2019s health-care system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is this is deeply concerning because the Ontario government has now announced plans to roll out the privatization to hips and knees and other surgeries, and the premier has said he can see half of the surgeries in Ontario being performed outside of hospitals,\u201d Michael Hurley, president of OCHU-CUPE, said at a press conference Monday morning in Kingston.<\/p>\n

OCHU-CUPE, which represents 50,000 hospital and long-term care staff, is calling on the Ontario government to halt its recently announced plan to spend $280 million to fund for-profit surgical centres.<\/p>\n

Hurley said surgeries at these private, for-profit clinics are available only to those who can afford to pay and the procedures cost more than those performed in hospitals and are becoming less available to people who can\u2019t afford to pay for private procedures.<\/p>\n

Hurley said the Ontario Health Coalition has documented hundreds of cases of private clinics illegally charging patients for medically necessary services and add-on services that patients felt compelled to purchase.<\/p>\n

An increased reliance on private clinics has also increased wait times for cataract surgery in Ontario, said Doug Allan, a researcher with CUPE.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince privatization, Ontario\u2019s cataract surgery, the ability to meet the benchmark wait times has declined despite the extra funding that has gone to the for-profit clinics,\u201d Allan said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an improvement, it\u2019s things have gotten worse.<\/p>\n

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