Clinton News Record, 2016-05-04, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, May 4, 2016
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What's the problem with high -billing docs?
Postmedia Network
The contract battle between
Ontario Health Minister Eric
Hoskins and the province's doctors
took a tawdry turn when Hoskins
recently declared -- implying
something nefarious was afoot --
that certain doctors were charging
taxpayers boatloads of money for
medical procedures.
Hoskins said some private -prac-
tice physicians bill at "staggering"
levels. One ophthalmologist, he
noted, received $6.6 million when
the average yearly physician com-
pensation is $368,000. He added
doctors have blown the province's
multibillion -dollar budget for
OHIP services over the last four
years by $744 million.
Hoskins, himself a doctor,
should know better than to use
such tactics. Familiar with the
medical system, he must know not
all doctors are rich; the high -bill-
ing doctors make up only two per
cent of Ontario's doctors and only
10 per cent of billing.
Hoskins also must know the
challenges doctors face under
the rationing model of Ontario's
public health care system. Long
waits for certain specialties. An
aging population. New diseases,
and treatments.
He'd know the fee structure --
the government sets the prices
doctors can charge for 7,300 billa-
ble options -- means physicians
bill what the province tells them to.
Rather than raise the health-care
spending envelope indefinitely, or -
gasp! - allow a wider choice of deliv-
ery models, the government appears
to want to cap the overall amount
doctors can bill. It's a tough dilemma
for a province whose coffers aren't
healthy.
While the minister wrestles with
it, let's return to his tactics. What,
exactly, is the problem with some
doctors earning top dollar annu-
ally? If they come by it honestly,
that makes them efficient (which
the system needs). Obviously, a
doctor who does more, at a set
price, will bill more.
So it's hardly good -faith nego-
tiating to smear doctors as greedy
one -per -centers. It raises the
spectre of Wall Street fatcats hid-
ing their ill-gotten gains in
Panama.
It's well within the province's
power to unilaterally change what
doctors can charge for billable pro-
cedures. It's already been done,
and admittedly raises the ire of
doctors. But the problem isn't just
the fees, of course. It's the size of
the medical budget, Ontario's
calamitous fiscal state and the
changing nature of medical care.
It's about lack of choice outside
this rigid structure, too.
We're not claiming doctors are
saints in this argument. From our
perspective, the patient is still
waiting on a gurney in the hall for
the sides to settle their dispute.
That's more likely to happen if the
government sets aside its disingen-
uous name-calling.
Mandatory minimum sentences don't add up
Postmedia Network
When it comes to Canada's
criminal justice system, the
popular political play in recent
years has been to follow our
American neighbours and
mimic their embrace of "tough
on crime" laws with hard and
fast rules for mandatory mini-
mum punishments.
The election of Justin Trudeau's
Liberals signalled Canadians may
be ready to rethink the wide array
of ironclad minimum sentences.
That's a good thing in light of a
recent Supreme Court of Canada
ruling.
A majority of the high court
ruled in a decision recently that
the mandatory one-year prison
sentence prescribed for drug
trafficking for someone with a
previous trafficking conviction
amounted to cruel and unusual
punishment under the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.
Chief Justice Beverley McLach-
lin, writing for the majority, said
the minimum sentence cast too
wide a net, snagging not just seri-
ous drug traffickers but also
those involved in conduct "much
less blame worthy." Canadians
would be shocked by its poten-
tially broad application, she
wrote.
The ruling does not mean that
all mandatory minimums in
Canadian law violate the Charter.
Some past decisions found man-
datory minimums are not by
themselves unconstitutional.
The majority advised, though,
that Parliament should consider
narrowing the reach of manda-
tory minimums. That -- com-
bined with a 2015 ruling that
quashed the three-year manda-
tory minimum sentence for some
gun -related crimes -- means the
Liberals are on the right track
with a review of recent changes
in the justice system.
Mandatory minimum sen-
tences sound like a good idea in
theory, but Canadians know that
the application of justice can be
uneven. One need only look at
the disproportionate number of
First Nations people in the sys-
tem to know that all is not right.
Statistics Canada reported vio-
lent crime continued to drop
across the country in 2014 and
that serious crime was at its
lowest level since 1969. Yet the
federal prison population grew
by 10 per cent between 2005 and
2015, according to correctional
investigator Howard Sapers 2014-
15 annual report.
Nobody wants someone found
guilty of a serious crime such as
murder to walk away conse-
quence free. That's not justice.
But the problem with applying
mandatory minimum sentences
to a wide range of minor crimes
is that it sets up a straightforward
equation with no room for varia-
bles. Commit crime X and face
the obligatory punishment of Y
number of years in jail or prison.
That makes for easy sound bites,
but that calculation does not
automatically add up to justice
either.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
15 years ago...
• For three days, an estimated 3,600 children gathered Clin-
ton to take in the many activities being offered as part of the
Family Literacy festival of 2001. Students from across Huron
and Perth counties, from both school boards, along with some
students from Lambeth, will be gathered at the Clinton Com-
munity Centre to hear presentations from authors, illustrators
and storytellers and to participate in workshops.
• The Goderich and Exeter Human Resource Centres of
Canada for Students (HRCCS) opened to the public. The
centres assist businesses and youth with their summer
employment needs; they link youth and employers and
provide young people with job postings, interview advice,
resume building and job search strategies.
25 years ago...
• The Clinton Conservation Area could be forced to close the
upcoming summer, due to budget cutbacks; the conservation
area maintenance budget was cut in half. Fred Lewis, ARCA
chairman, stated, "Each year, maintenance has been reduced
throughout the conservation area by methods such as plant-
ing more trees, thereby reducing the amount of grass that
needs to be cut. These methods of cost reduction may not
have been obvious to the public. However, this year's drastic
funding cut will have drastic consequences."
• The Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA) was named the
most outstanding municipality of its size in Ontario. The asso-
ciation, which takes care of Clinton's recycling, is made up of
37 municipalities, and they received the honour from the
Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO) at the 1990 Ontario Waste
Minimization Awards Banquet.
35 years ago...
• The fifth annual Clinton Kinsmen canoe race down the
lower Maitland River from Auburn to Holmsville was hurt
slightly by the opening of trout season and false belief that
the river was low. However there were still 50 entries in 10
classes, and the $800 raised from the canoe race and the raf-
fle went to cystic fibrosis research.
• The Clinton Optimists held their annual Oratorical contest at
St. Paul's church. The contestants were give the general topic
"A Commitment to Share". The winners were Tracey Middle-
ton and Brian Phillips, who were both students at St. Joseph's
School.
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