Is your kid due for their annual eye exam soon" If you have an appointment booked and you live in Ontario, you should expect a cancellation call any day now.
Since the beginning of September, Ontario optometrists haven?t been seeing any patients who are covered under OHIP?and that includes kids. Children in the province can?t currently have their eyes examined by an optometrist, and there?s no telling when that will change.
Here?s what you need to know about the optometrist situation in Ontario.
Why aren?t optometrists seeing kids right now"
Earlier this year, Ontario?s eye care professionals warned that they intended to withdraw their services for any patients who are covered by Ontario?s health insurance plan (OHIP), which includes kids under 19 (and also adults over 65). They say OHIP doesn?t pay them enough to cover their expenses. According to the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO), optometrists in Canada?s most populous province are the lowest compensated in the country. They?re reimbursed $47 per exam; as a comparison, in Alberta, that number jumps to $137.
Ontario?s optometrists are asking for more money, and so far, the Ford government hasn?t been willing to meet their demands, so they took job action beginning September 1.
According to Claudia Lee, an optometrist in Whitby, Ont. and a member of the board of the OAO, a vote of the association’s members resulted in 96% agreeing to withdraw their services until their compensation is increased.
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