NDP says documents point to more privatization plans for health care
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

New Democrats say they have obtained health ministry documents further suggesting the Ford government is preparing to privatize more health care services amid threats of a police investigation into the leaked papers.NDP Leader Andrea Horwath raised the spectre of the Walkerton tainted water crisis in pointing to a document, which is dated Dec. 13 and states that health inspections, laboratories, licensing, medical devices and the Ornge air ambulance service are candidates for “outsourcing.�“The Ford government has been keeping it all under wraps,� she told a news conference Monday, following up on the release by her office last week of confidential draft legislation to create a new health “super agency� with powers to contract out more health services.“They are covering up the fact that Ford’s overhaul of the health care system is a done deal.�Health Minister Christine Elliott said last week that the draft legislation was an “early� version but acknowledged the government is embarking on a “transformation� of the health care system to make it more responsive to patients and end “hallway health care.�She told the Star on Friday that the government has no plans to tender health care services out to the lowest bidder. “That is not what we are considering,� Elliot said.The latest documents mention a plan for between 30 and 50 “MyCare� groups for patients across the province, aimed at creating “a single team of providers for all their care needs� to avoid “gaps� in service. Horwath said the papers show these groups will have “unprecedented power� to contract out services to private providers at a time when “we need every last health care dollar to go directly to patient care.�She would not comment on how the New Democrats got the documents, which mention dates of cabinet approvals for the health care overhau ...