Taxpayers face increasing P3 costs

The conservative British newspaper, the Telegraph reports that British taxpayers now face paying five per cent more per year for hospitals built through public private partnerships (P3s) because the debts are linked to inflation. P3s bring private corporations into hospital financing and support services.

When the BBC program Panorama contacted 85 hospital trusts with PFI deals, it found 80 of them said they were having to make increased payments to the corporations due to inflation. The hospitals did not protect themselves against inflation, while the private P3 corporations did, it seems.

Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who now chairs the Public Accounts Committee, admitted to the BBC program: "We should have been much more transparent about the costs. I think we got the balance wrong."

Richard Bacon, a Conservative member of the committee, said he thought taxpayers were being "ripped off".

Ontario is going ahead with its own privatized P3 hospital spree, despite all the problems. We can't afford it.

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