Bill 60 will bankrupt the province

BY STEVEN KASZAB

We are in a mind-set as North Americans, brought up to believe that private business in whatever form is better, more efficient than public services. May I say that this concept is a bunch of propaganda brought to you by your local capitalist source, whether that be: Big Business, Big Pharma, Big Banks. Let’s look at this wisely and objectively.

During the pandemic, there were hundreds of thousands of elderly seniors living in hospitals, senior homes and facilities across Ontario. Most of these homes were managed by private concerns, funded by huge corporations and banks. Were they prepared for this pandemic and the threat it held towards the seniors? Hell no. When profit is the centre of an organization’s requirements, the human element will always be secondary.

Not enough: nurses, masks, or equipment. No real-life training for such an experience. Not enough medical staff to serve the elderly. Where was the customer service? These were private facilities who say they pride themselves upon their customer service right? Money was the concern. Management did not order materials and equipment fast enough, ending up relying upon the provincial government’s attempt to save the day. Thousands died in our senior homes, and not one fat cat, misguided manager has paid for this criminality.

Now our provincial government has reacted like most would, trying to serve the public and themselves in turn. Feathering their caps, their nest egg for the future, our elected folk put their reliance upon medical services onto private concerns once again. Clinics carrying out services our hospitals are supposed to do, at three to five times the cost.

You see, businesses exist to make as much money as they can, and everyone knows that doing business with a government means you are guaranteed profits, profits and more profits. Business greases the political parties’ donation wheels, and a way you go to profit land. What will hospitals do now? Dividing the medical health portfolio endangers it as a whole financially. Where do you think medical professionals will come from to staff clinics? Our hospitals. Their wages will be much higher than public hospitals. Profit for everyone it seems.

Very soon now, you may go to a hospital for assistance only to be sent to another, more well-staffed one. That is what happens in America. The rich and well toothed go to one hospital, the average unwashed citizen to another.

Soon enough, Ontario’s government – with the backing of the Federal Liberals – will allow the introduction of private insurers to act as alternatives to OHIP. So private facilities will charge OHIP, but we don’t know what the difference that is being charged. Is it much higher than the present charges for a medical procedure? So much for Transparency in Ford’s Ontario; first there was no accountability for the horrors we experienced during the pandemic, with no managers, decision makers falling upon their swords. Now, we have entered a medical healthcare zone we are unfamiliar with, and unprepared to deal with.