Op-Ed: Physicians' Pay Cuts
By David Li
Earlier this year, the Ontario government decided to cut physician salaries by 2.65 percent after contract negotiations failed. Not only was the paycheck cut in effect starting February 1, 2015, but the government also reduced walk-in clinic premiums and funding provided to continuing education programs for physicians. Now, on 1 October 2015, physicians saw another cut of 1.3 percent to their fees.
All these cuts were implemented to supposedly “balance” the provincial budgets, and were enforced after the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) rejected the government’s proposal for a compromise in the budget. The OMA proposed a 2 year wage freeze during the negotiations, which was deemed unacceptable by the Ontario government and was promptly rejected. Aggravated doctors in Ontario expressed their displeasure: older physicians are considering early retirement, while younger practitioners are contemplating packing up their tools and moving to a different province.
The question is, why target the healthcare sector in the first place? Why cut funding to a social program that Canadians pride themselves on having? The government neglects the fact that the general public needs health care professionals, and cutting their wages and benefits serves only to discourage physicians. Health Minister Eric Hoskins claims that Ontario physicians are sufficiently paid, with the average salary for Ontario doctors ranking amongst the highest in Canada. What this statement ignores is the fact that compensation for doctors was frozen for a ten year period before the increases from 2003 to 2013. As the demand for professional healthcare increases in Ontario, the pay for qualified practitioners is decreasing, if not stagnant.
All these issues are paving the road for patients to feel the eventual consequences. Reducing the budget available for physicians to utilize means that select practices will become too expensive to regularly use. Doctors may then be discouraged to practice in specific fields because of the cost, which in turn reduces the amount of people qualified to provide these services to the public.
The Ontario provincial government needs to rethink and re-evaluate where they’re pulling money from to “balance the books.” I doubt in a decade’s time, a young physician whose career path was set back by the budget cuts today will be eagerly offering his services to the wonderful Kathleen Wynne who so obviously values the healthcare sector.
