The Ontario government is trying to save money while providing more services to senior citizens by cutting back access to services offered by for-profit physio clinics.
The Ontario government is taking aim at for-profit physiotherapy clinics in a bid to spend less money and provide more services to senior citizens.
But the opposition Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats warn the Liberals are in fact making deep cuts.
Health Minister Deb Matthews said Thursday the Liberals are “taking action” to give 218,000 more seniors physio, exercise and fall-prevention classes.
That should “clear the waiting lists” and bring to 500,000 the number of Ontarians receiving services starting Aug. 1.
But the government, which spent $172 million on such therapy last year, will now earmark $156 million.
Matthews said the $16 million in savings comes from breaking the stranglehold by for-profit clinics that have controlled the system for decades.
“You have to change the model. We have to wind down an archaic system,” she said, noting the government has been paying physiotherapists’ premium rates to companies for exercise classes that should be inexpensive to do.
Tory MPP Christine Elliott (Whitby—Oshawa) said the Liberals are “trying to mask a cut with all kinds of other excuses.”
NDP MPP France Gélinas agreed. “It looks like a cut to me, too.”
However, Ontario Physiotherapy Association president Amanda Smart praised the “restructuring” because “the system had to change.”
Tony Melles, executive director of the Designated Physiotherapy Clinics’ Association, said he was “shocked” by the change.
“This is clearly a cut to service,” he said, suggesting the government is actually spending to $200 million a year on the therapy.
Matthews said she’s not surprised at the reaction from the for-profit industry, which is controlled by four large companies that do two-thirds of the OHIP billings.
Physiotherapy is the fastest growing cost in the health system.
Robert Benzie – The Star – 2013-04-18.
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