The opposition and government couldn't agree on what the recently announced changes to health care and long-term care would actually do — specifically, whether hospital patients will be moved to LTC homes without their consent.
As it turns out, the argument hinges on your definition of "consent." The bill says explicitly that provincial care coordinators can approve the admission of patients who don't require hospital care into long-term care homes without their consent.
The issue is what happens if the patient refuses to go. Today, when a patient is discharged from a hospital but refuses to go to a long-term care home that they'd previously chosen, the hospital can charge them a daily rate of hundreds to over a thousand dollars for their bed.
The bill says restraints can't be used to force a patient into a long-term care home. But it says nothing about hospitals charging them to stay.
<h3>Long-term care consent</h3>
"If (patients) refuse to go, will they be billed for their hospital bed?" NDP interim leader Peter Tabuns asked in his first question to Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra.
Calandra took an indignant tone but chose his words carefully.
"I really think the Opposition would benefit from a reading of the bill because if the leader of the opposition actually read the bill, he would see that on the very first page it says that nobody will be removed from a hospital who is discharged from a hospital into long-term care without their consent," he said.
Indeed, no one can be physically removed from the hospital. But he didn't answer the question about billing. That trend would continue.
Tabuns tried again, asking for a "guarantee" no one would be billed.
Calandra danced it again, saying that his bill doesn't say anything about charging people for hospital beds. (Again, this is something that is already allowed, under certain circumstances.)
Tabuns used his second supplementary to attack the government for leaving the billing question open. Calandra again said Tabuns must not have read the bill but didn't address the billing question.
Later, interim Liberal leader John Fraser tried his hand, with the same result.
"Imagine this conversation, Speaker: 'Mrs. Smith, we’re going to have to move your mom,'" he said. "'But you can’t move her, we won’t be able to see her. That’s too far.' 'I’m sorry, Mrs. Smith, that’s the law. I have no choice.'"
Calandra said he was getting "angry" now. "Because what the opposition is doing is absolutely sad, and, in many ways, it is disgusting," he said.
He cited the part of the bill that doesn't allow restraints and called for Fraser to withdraw, earning himself a standing ovation from the PC benches.
"It does say in the bill explicitly that people can be moved without consent. And the conversation I just described will happen," Fraser said.
NDP long-term care critic Wayne Gates tried again later, calling Calandra the "part-time long-term care minister," and got the same response.
<h3>Health-care privatization and delays</h3>
NDP MPP Sandy Shaw raised concerns about the plan to increase private delivery of health care, saying for-profit clinics have a history of tacking on unnecessary add-on fees using misleading sales practices.
She cited a 2021 auditor general <a href="https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en21/AR_Outpatient_en21.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that read, in part: "the ministry is putting patients at greater financial risk by allowing additional private organizations to provide publicly funded surgeries, while also being allowed to charge patients directly for additional uninsured services to make a profit."
Health Minister Sylvia Jones called the announcement "exciting" and "innovative," saying the status quo isn't working.
NDP MPP Jennie Stevens said the government's increased use of private clinics will "suck resources" from the public sector and people will wait longer for surgeries as a result.
Jones said she'll make sure Ontario has the capacity for all surgeries, paid for publicly.
NDP MPP Jeff Burch also prodded Jones about the surgical backlog. A Niagara boxing legend waiting for a timely operation has started a GoFundMe to get it done in Buffalo in case Ontario's system can't come through in time, Burch said.
Jones said that's why her government put $880 million toward tackling the backlog over the last three years.

Your question period briefing: Consent conflagration

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