Re: Charges over and above OHIP

[Anonymous]

When you have a shortage of physicians who assess and treat ADHD, when you have a huge demand for services, well that equals monopolizing your access and forcing the market to bear the cost. Are the costs justified. NO. Are physicians able to charge outside of a government insurer, YES. Why?

If a physician charges for a service that is not covered by government insurer, the local medical association usually has guidelines on what to charge (e.g. telephone calls, missed appointments). The innovative physician finds new ways to charge like payments for filling out forms and tabulating the results, doing CPT assessments, or having a psychologist to do testing and charging for that service. None of this is illegal. None of this is necessary though the later may be but a physician has a conflict of interest to assign their psychometrist to do the testing because it could be seen as an act of coercion.

The only solution is to get more doctors into the game and to reduce the demand. Ultimately, the market forces push the agenda. Is it fair? Not in Canada but very typical of an American ideal.

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