LETTER: There are other ways to fund healthcare, the reader says
May 23, 2023
Reader says a monthly fee directly to OHIP would ensure ‘we know where the funds are going’ rather than just into the government coffers
Orillia Matters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to ‘LETTER: Raising taxes the only way to address the healthcare crisis’ published May 16.
I agree we need more funding but rather than increasing tax brackets, perhaps we can do it by paying a monthly fee directly into OHIP like we used to. In this way, we know where the funds are going.
Why can’t we come up with more affordable tuition for medical students? That may make it easier for students wanting to become a doctor to enter into it. There are many intelligent students who have to study abroad because of the cost and the entrance requirements. That should be looked at.
How about making it easier for existing doctors in other countries to come here and practice?
Last but not least, we need to look at the existing compensation program. We lost our specialists to our friends to the south. why? Because they get paid substantially more.
So when a person has a mountain of student debt they need to pay off, they want to pay it off as fast as possible in order to get on with their life. So they go where the money is.
Kathy Quigley
Ramara