Defend Public Healthcare

Expenditures on hospitals saw some of the smallest increases in public sector health care expenditures over the last decade, according to a 2011 report from the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF).   In contrast, health services from the sectors dominated by for-profit corporation (drugs and capital expenditures) saw the highest expenditure increases.  In fact the real per capita annual percentage increases for these two sectors were about double the increases for the hospital sector.  Compound annual growth rates of real per capita public sector health care expenditures, 1999 to 2009, Canada Use of funds                                                      Compound annual growth rate Total health                                                                        4.13% Hospital care                                                                      3.41% Other institutions                                                                 2.45% Physician care    

The  Windsor Star  has called for the resignation of the Health Minister over  the Windsor long term care public-private partnership (P3) that recently fell apart.  The Star has also called for  a review of the project by the Auditor General. The Grace Hospital saga continued this week as a Ministry of Health spokeswoman admitted the province was "not aware" developer Lou Vozza was facing a mountain of civil judgments in 2009, just as the Liberals were expanding the scope of his contract to build a longterm care facility. As the number of claims against Vozza became public - almost 30 parties were registered in Superior Court on June 24, the day the contract was finally cancelled - the sense of disbelief continued to grow. How was it possible that Health Minister Deb Matthews, who just three weeks ago expressed faith in Vozza's ability to get the job done, would be oblivious to his financial woes from the get-go? How could she be "very pleased" with his p

A new piece on Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and the governance of health care has come out, this time from Terrence Sullivan (a long time top leader in Ontario health care and former boss of Cancer Care Ontario) and Karen Born (a researcher-writer with the  Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute  at St Michael's Hospital Toronto) .  While the piece comes  to no definitive conclusions, it is clear that they are raising the idea of stronger regional governance of health care to speed change and restructuring in health care. Such changes would likely change bargaining unit structure and have other far reaching impacts on CUPE members.  The piece can be found here , but I’ve also copied some notable points below (with my added emphasis ).  We feared that LHINs would regionalize, centralize, privatize, and cut health care services.  But from this perspective, LHINs have not brought about enough radical change  and the province needs to find new ways to achieve this.   Correctl

Well this shocked me:  the Auditor General reports that health care spending went up slightly less than overall program spending over the last eight years.  Program expenses have increased at an average annual rate of  7.2% over the last eight years -- a tick higher than health care increases. This sits at odds with the claim by critics of medicare that public health care spending is "crowding out" other parts of  provincial government spending. The overall program spending of the last eight years contrasts sharply with the proposed funding for the next two years:  down from 7.2% to 1.8% (including major one time expenditures).  That's quite a tumble, to a level of increase that is less than the government's inflation forecast. Programs outside of health care, education, post secondary / training, and social services will see decreased funding (reducing spending 1.8% annually for Justice and 5.6% annually for all other programs). Also revealed in the Auditor

As part of his discussion of cost pressures on Ontario hospital funding, the Auditor General sites a recent major union hospital settlement with (he says) "an average annual pay raise of about 1.5%".   He does not note that the 1.5% average is actually  lower  than the percentage the government intends to increase hospital funding -- less than one-half the increase in fact.   So this compensation change is actually creating room for other hospital budget line items to increase at an  above average  rate.  If wages increase at a percentage rate less than the overall percentage funding increase, other line items can increase at an above average rate.  If (as is likely) the hospitals increase labour productivity, the percentage increase in the total wage package will be even less, leaving even more space for above average increases for other line items.  That is going to be very helpful to the government.    For example, if health care funding increases 3.6% as planned, an

 The Auditor General finds the Ontario government's funding proposals for health care over the next two years to be 'optimistic'.   Translation:  if they fund at the proposed level, we may well see serious cuts to public health care services.   This is all the more troubling as the Progressive Conservatives (who are currently leading in the polls by a substantial margin) are calling for even lower health care funding increases. Hospital funding increases are supposed to be cut almost in half under the government's plan compared with the government's first two terms. The Auditor notes:  "The expense estimates assume that the hospital sector will achieve savings totalling $1 billion between 2011/12 and 2013/14." The Auditor concludes:  "if hospitals do not find $1 billion in savings and do not succeed in freezing compensation, they will likely run deficits or may have little alternative but to cut services."    Hospitals are current

The latest Statistics Canada report on inflation indicates that the consumer price index increased to 4.0% in Ontario for the 12 months ended in May.  That's an increase from 3.6% for the year ended a month earlier. Public and private sector union settlements remain far behind that level, with  the Ontario Ministry of Labour reporting settlements in 2011 (to April) seeing 2.1% average annual wage increases. Settlements have often tracked inflation, but we are clearly off that trend for now. More evidence (if it's needed) that real wages for working people are falling.