“We are collecting evidence about private clinics (in Ontario) and how they are extra-billing patients illegally.” – from the Ontario Health Coalition, a not-for-profit citizen-based group fighting to save quality public health care.
A Call-Out from the Niagara Health Coalition, a branch of the non-profit citizens-based Ontario Health Coalition
Posted September 6th, 2023 on Niagara At Large
Have you been charged for health care in a private clinic? We need to hear from you urgently
If you have been charged for a cataract surgery, diagnostic test like an MRI or CT scan, or other medically needed surgery in a private clinic in Ontario we need to hear from you.
We are collecting evidence about private clinics and how they are extra-billing patients illegally. This fall we will also be actively pursuing getting people’s money back for illegal charges.
Note: this includes if you have charged outright for a needed surgery or diagnostic test, and also if you have been manipulated into paying:
– For eg. the private clinic tells you that you should get laser cataract surgery, or they only do laser cataract surgery, or that the outcomes are worse if you don’t get it, or the wait times are forever in public hospitals (untrue), and that you will have to pay $2,000 per eye for the surgery. (Note: laser cataract surgery is covered by OHIP. Wait times are highly variable and you can check yourself what the wait times are in any area of Ontario at this website: https://www.ontariohealth.ca/public-reporting/wait-times )
– Eg. 2: the private clinic tells you you need an eye measurement test that costs $200 or more and they don’t give you a choice, or they claim that the outcomes are worse if you don’t get that test. (The OHIP covered test show the same efficacy. You don’t need to pay to get anything else.)
– Eg. 3: the private clinic tells you that you need an MRI with contrast and they charge you for the contrast. (If you need an MRI with contrast you do not need to pay for it.)
Please email Natalie at ontariohealthcoalition@gmail.com with the subject line “PRIVATE CLINICS”.
If you are being charged for lab tests, and we know there has been an explosion of extra charges for lab tests, we are doing a separate research project to figure out exactly what is happening. Please email Natalie at the same address ontariohealthcoalition@gmail.com with the subject line “LAB FEES”. It will take a month or two but we will get to the bottom of this also and we will do everything we can do for people who are being charged for needed tests.
Under the Canada Health Act, patients cannot be charged user fees or extra out-of-pocket costs for all medically needed hospital and physician services. That means you cannot legally be charged for an appointment with a doctor, whether it is a family doctor or specialist or any person providing physician services; you cannot be charged for a medically needed diagnostic test or surgery; you cannot be charged for a medically necessary lab test.
Despite this, the private for-profit clinics routinely extra-bill patients — either through simply charging people for medically needed services or through using manipulative language to push patients to pay for extras. Such charges are illegal and unethical. They pose a real and present threat to single-tier public health care in our province and our country.
We are grateful for anything you can do to help gather the evidence and stop the privatization of our health care.
To learn more about the Ontario Health Coalition and its advocacy work for quality public health care by going to Google or whatever search engine you use and keying in Ontario Health Coalition.
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