Travel: reserved for the healthy and wealthy?
I appreciate my health care system. Right across Canada, we seem to be able to find our way past the cash register and actually access trained doctors, nurses and technicians. You’re sick? We’ve got your back!
Which is why I am hypersensitive to any erosion, even if it doesn’t affect me directly. Politicians are copycats, and when one province finds a way to diminish the effectiveness, another may follow. Beware! Today, Ontario announced a change to what OHIP will cover, when you (the taxpayer) decide to go to the United States and then seek care. From now on, “get your own insurance” is the name of the plan.
I haven’t read the whole press release, but I feel confident in the next assumption: this covers people travelling outside of Canada. Period. The US is not the only destination for Canadians from Ontario, and so anyone crossing another border will face the same situation. As well, since some private insurance firms will match the OHIP payment schedule, suddenly travel becomes a whole other game, reserved for the richest and healthiest.
A further supposition: if this doesn’t get rescinded by the federal level of government, expect other provinces to follow the newest way to “save money”. The taxpayer will pay the same amounts, but the governments have a special take on how those amounts are spent. It doesn’t bode well.
Because, of course, there is a third player in this: private industry, who would love to flog their “new, improved travel plans” for you to purchase and include in your (pardon me) travel plans. Suddenly the future looks a little edgier.
