Health coalition blasts provincial government cuts to long-term care funding

By Mike Baker

The Ontario Health Coalition has raised concerns about the Ford government's funding cuts to long-term care. 

“The Ontario Health Coalition has been made aware that level of care funding has experienced significant real dollar cuts. The per diem rate has been increased by 1%, which does not meet the rate of inflation,” the Coalition said in a press release. “In addition to cuts to the per diem rate the government has cut special transition funds impacting in particular, municipally owned long-term care homes. Some municipalities will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding per year.”

Examples it cited of funding cuts to municipal homes included Lanark Lodge $80,000.00 Bonnechere Manor & Miramichi Lodge 175,000 (2019) 366,000 (2020), Fairhaven $204,000. 

“The government has claimed that the long-term care sector has received altogether a 1.7% funding increase, however funding details released to date do not add up to 1.7%.. This claimed increase of 1.7% would still be less than the rate of inflation. Homes that are losing the transition funds that they have relied on will be experiencing even deeper loss of expected funding due to the real dollar cuts in level of care funding. The funding cuts seriously threaten care levels in long-term care homes which are already too low to meet the needs of residents.”