{"id":5366,"date":"2017-06-15T16:14:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T20:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=5366"},"modified":"2020-05-08T17:13:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T21:13:37","slug":"health-coalition-members-warn-of-illegal-billing-by-private-health-clinics-during-tour-stop-in-sarnia-lambton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/health-coalition-members-warn-of-illegal-billing-by-private-health-clinics-during-tour-stop-in-sarnia-lambton\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Coalition members warn of illegal billing by private health clinics during tour stop in Sarnia-Lambton"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Tyler Kula<\/a>, Sarnia Observer<\/p>\n

Private, for-profit clinics are cutting a second tier into Canada\u2019s public health-care system, a representative with a provincial health-care watchdog group says.<\/p>\n

And, in many cases, what they\u2019re doing is illegal, said Peter Boyle, a volunteer with the Ontario Health Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you need money for medical care, under OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan), under the Canadian health-care system, it is totally covered whether you get it at a hospital or a private clinic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anybody tries to charge you more money, that is against the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

But patients are being hit with extra charges at a number of private clinics across the country, he said, noting the coalition is planning to release an in-depth report, two years in the making, on the subject Monday,<\/p>\n

Part of what\u2019s in store was included in a Globe and Mail article Saturday, he said, looking at 71 clinics across the country where illegal billing for medical services has been going on unchecked by regulators.<\/p>\n

Almost all of the subject clinics \u2013 none of which are based in Sarnia \u2013 are owned by physicians, writes Kathy Tomlinson, in the Globe report.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of doctors are good, some of them are not so good,\u201d said Boyle, under the Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward Saturday.<\/p>\n

The stop was one of 20 in the coalition\u2019s \u2018We Can\u2019t Bear to Lose Medicare\u2019 tour, including a seven-foot stuffed bear designed to turn heads and draw attention to the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they do is the private clinics are charging fees that they make people think are necessary,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cThey don\u2019t, in a lot of cases, tell them they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes, for example, he said, charging for measuring a person\u2019s eye for cataract surgery, or upcharging for special, unnecessary lenses.<\/p>\n

In some cases clinics are cashing in twice for the same service \u2013 billing both the patient and province.<\/p>\n

Doctors routinely do it, and refer patients to private clinics where they have a stake, according to the Globe report.<\/p>\n

A court case in British Columbia is currently underway in which private clinics are challenging the laws protecting patients from user fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing private clinics spring up all over Ontario, certainly not as much perhaps as British Columbia or Saskatchewan are seeing, but it\u2019s against the law,\u201d said Shirley Roebuck, head of the Sarnia-Lambton Health Coalition chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a violation of the Canada Health Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

People in Canada are generally quite proud of publicly funded health care, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want it to succeed and I think that\u2019s where the government should be spending some money, to ensure our public health-care system is stable and viable.\u201d<\/p>\n

tkula@postmedia.com<\/p>\n

Click here for original article<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(June 11, 2017) By:\u00a0Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer Private, for-profit clinics are cutting a second tier into Canada\u2019s public health-care system, a representative with a provincial health-care watchdog group says. And, in many cases, what they\u2019re doing is illegal, said Peter Boyle, a volunteer with the Ontario Health Coalition. \u201cIf you need money for medical care, […]<\/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-5366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHealth Coalition members warn of illegal billing by private health clinics during tour stop in Sarnia-Lambton - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(June 11, 2017) By:\u00a0Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer Private, for-profit clinics are cutting a second tier into Canada\u2019s public health-care system, a\" \/>\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\/health-coalition-members-warn-of-illegal-billing-by-private-health-clinics-during-tour-stop-in-sarnia-lambton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Health Coalition members warn of illegal billing by private health clinics during tour stop in Sarnia-Lambton - 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