Ontario’s doctors urge Ottawa and provinces to reach health-care deal

TORONTO, Feb. 6, 2023 – Ontario’s doctors are calling on the federal and provincial governments to agree on a new health-care funding formula when they meet tomorrow in Ottawa.

“We need a long-term stable funding formula to fix the cracks in the health-care system exposed by the pandemic and build a better system for the future,”  said Dr. Rose Zacharias, president of the Ontario Medical Association. “Every province is in dire need of help to improve patient access to care and increase capacity in the health-care system.”

The OMA supports Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s call for the federal government to increase the Canada Health Transfer from the current 22 per cent to 35 per cent of provincial-territorial health-care spending.

This would give the provinces and territories the resources necessary to make health-system improvements within their respective jurisdictions. Provinces and territories cannot do this alone. 

Health-care spending was intended to be shared 50-50 by the federal government and the provinces and territories, but the federal government’s share has decreased over time.

Ontario’s doctors also support Ford’s plan to use the increased funding to hire more doctors and nurses and to tackle the pandemic backlog of surgeries and other health-care services, including desperately needed mental health care. The OMA has a detailed plan for how to do this in our  Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ 5-Point Plan for Better Health Care.

“Many recommendations in our Prescription could be acted on now if the prime minister and premiers could reach a funding agreement,” said OMA CEO Allan O’Dette. “This is an integrated plan, based on the broadest consultation in the OMA’s 140-year history, with detailed solutions to reduce wait times and the backlog of services, expand mental health and addiction services in the community, improve and expand home care and other community care, strengthen public health and pandemic preparedness, and give every patient a team of health-care providers who are linked digitally.”