Latest news with #NatalieMehra
Hamilton Spectator
18 hours ago
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
REPEAT – Health care advocates afraid of major cuts and privatization hold shadow summit and rally at Council of the Federation next week
HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, July 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Outside the Council of the Federation and the gathering of First Ministers, public health care advocates from across Canada will be joining a shadow summit, rally, and car cavalcade. Attendees include Health Coalitions, patients, patient advocates, nurses, doctors, care workers, mental health advocacy organizations, environmental groups, Indigenous organizations, seniors' groups, union leaders, and more. When & Where: Shadow Summit – Monday, July 21 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Hidden Valley Resort (next door to the Deerhurst Resort where the Premiers are meeting) 1755 Valley Rd, Huntsville, ON P1H 1A8 Reporters & health care reporters welcome. Opening plenary re key issues & updates across Canada, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Rally and Car Cavalcade – Tuesday, July 22 Who: hosted by the Canadian Health Coalition, Ontario Health Coalition, and the Ontario Federation of Labour. As Canada's leaders meet, our public health care system is, without exaggeration, in open crisis. Runaway privatization is taking funding and staff away from public health care services. Staffing shortages are a national catastrophe, forcing emergency departments to close and leaving health care workers with impossible workloads while patients wait longer and suffer more. Private clinics are violating the Canada Health Act, charging patients hundreds to thousands of dollars for surgeries and diagnostic tests in illegal user fees and extra-billing. Seniors can't access the care they need. Mental health and addiction services are underfunded, subject to privatization and cuts, or simply unavailable. Millions still do not have access to family medicine. The implementation of the first phase of pharmacare has stalled. This event serves to remind our political leaders that the economy exists to serve people, not the other way around, and the economy is more than militarism and private sector projects. If a 70-year-old goes to a private clinic and is forced to use their life savings and pay thousands of dollars for their surgery, what chance do they have to get out of poverty for the rest of their life? If a person has diabetes and cannot afford their insulin and supplies, what economy is there for them? Health care can't wait, and privatization is the destruction of Public Medicare, not a solution. Health Coalitions are demanding funding, resources, and public solutions in the public interest. For more information: Natalie Mehra, executive director, Ontario Health Coalition cell (416) 230-6402; Salah Shadir, administration & operations director, Ontario Health Coalition cell (647) 648-5706.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Patient Advocates to Issue Formal Complaint on Behalf of Patients Charged User Fees at Private Clinics
Attn: Newsdesk/Assignment Editor TORONTO, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ontario Health Coalition will be joined by patients from across Ontario in a press conference (by Zoom) as they announce that they have filed formal complaints on behalf of patients charged user fees for health care at private clinics. When the Ford government redirected resources away from public hospitals to expand private for-profit clinics the premier said, "No Ontarian will ever have to pay with a credit card. They will pay with their OHIP card." The Coalition has gathered evidence -- including proof of payment and patient reports -- from fifty patients that are included in the formal complaint. The Coalition has received more than 200 complaints over the last year and these represent only a small fraction of the number of patients who are facing charges of hundreds to thousands of dollars when they go for cataract surgery in the private clinics. This should never happen in Canada where patients are supposed to be protected against user charges and extra-billing for medically needed surgeries, diagnostic tests and physician services. Several patients will speak about their personal experiences at the press conference and the Coalition will also be releasing open letters to Ontario's Health Minister and the federal Minister of Health. What: Media conference by Zoom to announce formal complaints on behalf of fifty patients. The press conference will include patients sharing their stories about being extra-billed in private clinics. When & Where: Tuesday, June 17 at 10 a.m. press conference by Zoom. Media must register to attend and Zoom will then email you the press conference link. Register here: The Ontario Health Coalition was formed more than 40 years ago to safeguard single-tier public medicare and advocate for the public interest in health care. The Coalition was involved in the public campaigns and hearings that led to the creation of the Canada Health Act which requires that medically needed surgeries, diagnostic tests and physician services be covered by our public health care system and bans user fees and extra-billing for patients. The Coalition has tracked extra-billing, user fees and the impacts of privatization over the decades. In addition, the Coalition advocates to protect local health care services from being cut and closed and to improve access and care. It represents more than 750,000 Ontarians including patients, patient advocates, families, doctors, unions, non-profit organizations, seniors' groups, nurses, health professionals, care and support workers, students, ethnocultural organizations, and concerned citizens, among others. For more information: Natalie Mehra, executive director, cell (416) 230-6402, and; Salah Shadir, administration & operations director, cell (647) in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law
Advocacy organizations won't appeal an Ontario court's decision to dismiss their Charter challenge of the province's long-term care (LTC) law, which allows hospitals to move people into homes they didn't choose or be charged $400 a day to remain in hospital. The case, launched by the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) and the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), was heard in the Superior Court of Justice in September. The two parties argued Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act, — which was passed in 2022 — violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms so the law should be overturned. The provincial government, however, maintains the law is necessary to free up much-needed hospital beds. In mid-January, the court sided with the province and decided to dismiss the case. In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra said OHC can't afford the legal costs to appeal. The OHC is paying the majority of legal fees in this case, of "close to $200,000," according to Mehra. She said they're still fundraising to pay it off. She also said an appeal is always challenging to win. "It's very disappointing and really heartbreaking," Mehra said. "We know that patients really are suffering as a result of the coercion, trying to find somewhere to move from hospital into a long-term care home that is a decent home, that provides the care that they need, that is close to loved ones." In the published decision from January, Justice Robert Centa said the law doesn't contravene the Charter. The bill "does not interfere with an ALC [alternate level of care] patient's 'right' to choose where they live," and the $400 daily charge for a continued hospital stay is "not coercive," Centa wrote. Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition and a longtime advocate for public health care, says they'll continue to 'ramp up our fight' to get the province to prioritize the rights of elderly patients. (Joe Fiorino/CBC) Instead, Bill 7 has a "sufficiently important objective," the justice added. "I found that the purpose of Bill 7 is to reduce the number of ALC patients in hospital who are eligible for admission to a long-term care home in order to maximize hospital resources for patients who need hospital-level care." Mehra said ACE and the OHC were "shocked" by the ruling, especially the idea that a $400 daily charge isn't coercive. "These are elderly patients, they're on fixed incomes, $400 a day is $12,000 a month — that is beyond the means of the vast majority of people in Ontario. It really means that they don't have a choice in our view." An Ontario patient charged $26K under legislation Since the law was implemented in 2022, CBC News has spoken with people who were impacted, including Michele Campeau, whose elderly mom was charged $26,000 under the legislation last year. Campeau had refused to move her mom out of a Windsor hospital and into a long-term care home the family didn't want. CBC News reached out this week to Campeau for comment, but hasn't heard back. When she last spoke to CBC News in January, Campeau said she wasn't planning to pay the fee and didn't agree with the court ruling. Patients, their caregivers and seniors advocates have said the law is unfair and doesn't give elderly people, who might be in their final stage of life, the right to choose where they want to live. But health-care leaders who provided expert evidence during the court case have said the law helps free up hospital beds for people who need them. A spokesperson for Ontario's minister of health previously told CBC News the law "ensures people across the province receive the care they need, in a setting that is right for them." "It frees up hospital beds so that people waiting for surgeries can get them sooner. It eases pressures on crowded emergency departments by admitting patients sooner and it connects more people to the care they need when they need it." Michele Campeau, left, visits her mother, Ruth Poupard, 83, at Hôtel-Dieu GraceHealthcare in Windsor on April 3. Campeau had refused to move her mom out of hospital and into an LTC home the family didn't want. (Dax Melmer/The Canadian Press) 'Ramp up our fight' Despite the OHC's decision, Mehra said they're not giving up. She said they will continue to advocate for patients and "ramp up our fight" to get the province to prioritize the rights of elderly patients. Beyond overturning the law, she said, they'll advocate for the government to improve home care, increase capacity in hospitals and LTC homes, and move forward with building new and modern homes that people want to live in. "The fact that the solution has been to target patients rather than to deal with the capacity issues in our health system ... it's wrong, it's morally wrong, to treat people at the end of their lives in that way," she said. "We have to fight with everything we have to force political change."
