Paying the piper

Finance minister Greg Sorbara delivered his budget and it has thundered like a cold wash cloth across the face.
Ontarians have, for several years, lived beyond their means and the changes unleashed by the Liberal government will have a long, lasting impact. We have complained about waiting times for surgery, lack of nurses, shortages of doctors, and lack of resources for health care.
The Liberal government under Dalton McGuinty, swallowing their promises, are now letting the people pay for what they need.
While this budget has committed greater funding to hospitals and public health, it marks a change in the government’s philosophy of universal coverage for Ontario residents. The budget adds to the list of items for two-tiered health coverage.
Presently, the government does not believe dental care is a primary or necessary health care options for its citizens. Ontario residents must look after dental care by themselves.
It may be that the government is short-sighted and feels that eye care and eye examinations are not necessary. They, too, have been eliminated from OHIP coverage, as has chiropractic care and physiotherapy.
At the same time, the Liberal government has returned health premiums to the users on a graduated basis. Those premiums had been removed by the previous Liberal government under Premier David Peterson back in the late 1980s.
These new premiums will be used to add physicians, nurses, and equipment to hospitals across the province. That should result in shorter waits for surgery.
The minister has promised the premiums will be segregated from the general revenues of the province and that every cent will go to health care. Half of that new income will come from working people earning up to $50,000 per year.
The time has come to pay the piper. Ontario residents have taken the cost of health care for granted. Now, every paycheque will show a portion of earnings going to their health care.
In addition, they also now will have to shell out for eye examinations, chiropractic, and physiotherapy care.
We said we were ready to pay for health care. The McGuinty government is letting us do that.