The Drummond Report is the bogeyman in the health-care waiting room, suggests the co-chairwoman of the Thunder Bay Health Coalition.
On Friday Sara Williamson said talk that health care will eat up to 80 per cent of the provincial budget by 2030 is preposterous, the government’s way of scaring taxpayers from supporting public health care in its present form.
“The language of sustainability that the (Dalton) McGuinty government has been using regarding health care is a falsehood,” Williamson said, reading from a prepared statement.
“This government continues to support privatization and rationing of needed care, while proclaiming that health care is eating up more of the provincial budget.”
Williamson pointed out that compared to other provinces, Ontarians pay on average $440 less per capita for health care, or $5.72 billion.
“There is no evidence that spending on the public, non-profit parts of health care is unsustainable. It is private, for-profit sectors that are growing quickly, especially drugs.”
... story continues after video:
The Drummond Report, being put together by economist Don Drummond, is expected to recommend wide-ranging and sweeping cuts and reorganization to the way the province does business.
But already there seems to be discord between what little Drummond is saying publicly and how the government plans to react.
Drummond, in a recent article in the Toronto Star, said Ontario will likely dramatically reduce the number of caesarian sections it pays for.
However, on Thursday Health Minister Deb Matthews unequivocally stated C-sections aren’t on the chopping block and won’t be, regardless of what Drummond recommends.
Williamson said people need to look closely at what Drummond recommends, especially in Northern Ontario where health concerns are magnified.
The region has higher levels of diabetes, heart disease and dozens of other diseases, and cutting the health-care budget isn’t going to help improve the situation.
“More money has to go into it before we’ll have a healthy population,” Williamson said, adding the province needs to ramp up spending on home care and alternative level of care service, which in the long-term should help reduce health costs in Ontario.
Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick
