The Citizen, 1993-01-13, Page 9/ F°
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TAKING THE
HEAT OFF OHIP
This past year, the Ministry of Health took a long,
hard look at our health care system to find ways of
taking the heat off an already overburdened plan.
It discovered that taxpayers were incorrectly paying
for as much as $20 million for third-party services.
WHAT ARE THIRD-PARTY SERVICES?
Third-party services are those not required by a
patient for treatment of illness or health promotion,
but are requested by someone else.
These services include physical examinations for insurance
forms, school and camp registrations, driver and pilot
certifications and medical notes to give employees time
off work.
Physicians are being reminded not to bill OHIP for third-
party services. Instead, they will request direct payment
for these services.
WHEN IT REALLY COUNTS
Services required to receive health or social assis-
tance benefits remain insured. For example,
medical certificates for wheelchairs or other medical
devices provided through the Assistive Devices
Program will be covered. There will be no charge for
certificates for Northern Health Travel Grants or access
to nursing homes.
Nothing that affects the basic principles of medicare has
changed. You will not be asked to pay for direct medical
care and some of the heat will be taken off OHIP.
For further information on how this may affect you call the
Ministry of Health toll-free Infoline.
1-800-268-1154
IN TORONTO 314-5518
TDD 1-800-387-5559
Ontario
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1993. PAGE 9.
Rep team comes to life in third period Letters
THE EDITOR,
Fact: Many taxpayers, fair
minded and intelligent, of
this village were not
approached to sign a peti-
tion, by a person, or so-
called committee, a petition
so unjust, radical, unwarran-
ted and ridiculous, it is with
out question a travesty of
justice.
Question: Why was
everyone not asked to sign?
Was the document only for
those holding a grudge,
personal peeve; with an axe
to grind? I was not asked for
a signature, nor were many
others. Speak up: those of
you who believe in "fair
play" and "justice". We do
not need a petition to defend
our convictions, only a
voice.
Who is the "Committee"?
A dubious signature was
affixed to the letter published
in The Citizen.
A committee is a group of
persons, elected or
appointed. Who elected or
appointed this one? Is there a
legal question to be
answered, by some one? The
motives behind all of this are
as obvious as the perpe-
trators.
This taxpayer questions
the vigilante approach to this
fiasco, the legality of the
document, the unjust
treatment of an employee
hired to expedite town
business. I understand she is
doing her job well as town
clerk. However, I am
confident that some
members of council can
justly handle this one.
Verne Dakin.
THE EDITOR,
I am a resident and
taxpayer in Morris Town-
ship, and until recently a
representative for the town-
ship on the Brussels, Morris
and Grey Recreation Board.
The council has decided
that because I am an
employee at the community
centre, I have a conflict of
interest. My job at the arena
is operating the food booth
during hockey games and the
wage is minimum.
At the council's recom-
mendation I consulted a
lawyer to see if in fact there
was a conflict. The lawyer's
advice was that as long as I
declared a conflict at the
beginning of every meeting,
he could not foresee any
problems.
As a rec board member, I
would not be allowed to take
part in discussion or voting
on matters such as wage
increases concerning my job
(yet at salary negotiation
time council decides whether
or not they will receive an
increase. Would the rules for
conflict of interest not apply
in their case?)
After informing the
council of this, they said they
would not be reappointing
me to the rec board. They
could have saved a lot of
time and expense on my part
and that of the council's if
they had stated this at the
very beginning.
Perhaps, we all should take
a harder look at just what our
council does at their bi-
monthly meetings. If so
much time can be spent on
such trivial matters, who is
attending to the greater
concerns of the other
taxpayers?
Melody White.
Continued from page 3
from Coach Henry, they came alive
and scored five unanswered goals
in the third period to defeat
Seaforth 7-3. Blyth goals were
scored by Anderson and Postma
each with two, while Black, Arthur
and Jeremy Sallows got singles.
Black chipped in three assists, Van
Amersfoort and Arthur each with
two and singles going to Postma,
Sallows, Bryce Toll and Tyler
Stewart.
The Blyth Atom Reps record
now stands at seven wins, five
losses, and one tie.