Defend Public Healthcare

Funding for hospital services in 2015/16 was 25% more in the rest of Canada than in Ontario. S ome have tried to downplay this, arguing that economies of scale should allow Ontario to provide hospital care more cheaply.   Notably, however, the World Health Organization dismisses the notion that economies of scale are a significant factor in hospital costs: It is tempting to think that larger hospitals are more cost-effective than smaller ones because of the operation of economies of scale.   However, the evidence does not back up this belief.   While increasing hospital size can cut costs for some specific procedures, such economics are exhausted at a relatively small size. In any case, with a population dispersed over a large geographic area, Ontario has scores of small hospitals, despite its large population.   Moreover, in other provinces, small hospitals are managed by larger regional health organizations, while in Ontario they are not.   If there were economies of s

  The government's unaudited financial statements for 2015-16 have been released (in lieu of the Public Accounts) and the deficit is down another $700 million from the last government estimate. Combined with earlier reductions, that means they came in with a deficit $3.5 billion less than they originally budgeted for 2015-16 in the 2015 budget.  Revenue for 2015-16 is up   $4 billion compared with the 2015 Budget forecast and up $2 billion from the 2016-17 Budget estimate for 2015-16.  This is good news.  After years of disappointing increases in revenue, we now have a whopper of a year. Revenue increased $9.8 billion between 2014/15 and 2015/16 - - that is an 8.3% increase. Two billion of this is related to the Hydro sell-off.  But there are big increases in revenue from corporate taxes (up 19%), income taxes (up 6.2%) and sales taxes (up 8.1%). Money is rolling in. Interest on debt is down $400 million compared to the 2015 Budget estimate and down $200 mi

A new report from the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) confirms the difficulties government cuts are placing on public health care in Ontario.   The FAO is a government-funded but somewhat independent office that reviews Ontario government economic and fiscal claims. This is not a left wing think tank -- rather it is very much part of the received establishment.   Its latest report notes that government spending plans will fall $4 billion short of what is required to maintain services at 2015/16 levels by 2018/19:  “If the quality and nature of public services remain unchanged over the outlook, the FAO estimates that program spending would need to increase by 2.7 per cent per year on average from 2014-15 to 2018-19. However, the 2016 Budget limits annual program spending growth to just 1.9 per cent on average, 0.8 percentage points lower than the growth in the underlying cost factors that drive public sector spending.” Moreover:   "The government’s plans to