Every once in awhile we see some news coverage about the huge amounts of money that some doctors are making. It is important to note the word SOME here, as not all doctors are raking in huge sums of money. Keeping this in mind it is really important to follow the negotiations of fees carefully because like it or not it is going to have some impact on you personally.
It is hard to believe that two years have passed and there has still not been any final fee arrangements made between the government and the Ontario doctors. They have come to a stand still because neither side wants to budge. There may be some hope on the horizon because both sides are ready to talk and consider arbitration.
Unfortunately they can’t even agree on a time to meet. As a person who relies on the medical services provided by our doctors many of us would like to know what is creating the big gap of coming to any sort of agreement. Of course the government is armed with the big income of a few doctors so they are going to rely on this during their negotiations, assuming our doctors are highly paid and not hard done by.
On the other side of the coin the Ontario doctors will be quick to point out that is a minority and not a majority of doctors that are bathing in wealth. The argumentative factor on the government’s side will be a wish to decrease fees based on the access that many of the specialists now have to new technology. So if the government slaps these specialities too hard, does this mean they will just get up and leave Ontario. One can’t deny that this possibility exists, and you can guess who is going to suffer because of this. If you are still waiting weeks or months to see a specialist well that might not get any better any time soon, and in fact it could get worse.
Then what about the enticement for new graduates? If the fees get cut too much there is not going to be much of an incentive for students to follow a medical career. The days of becoming a doctor for the good of mankind has dwindled. Even for students who have the wish to make the world a better place through medicine have their hands tied because of the huge student education debt that is incurred with following such a career.
While you may not have any direct input into the negotiations, it is still worth tracking the happenings, because the outcome will at least give you a heads up for the future in regards to the type of medical care that you can expect.
