Ontario government decides to fund physiotherapy but not chiropractic

Dr. Dean Wright, President of the Ontario Chiropractic Association (OCA), reacted with shock following an announcement in March by the Provincial Government of an expansion in funding for physiotherapy services -- originally slated for delisting on March 31 -- while chiropractic funding has been completely eliminated.

In its May 2004 budget, the Ontario government announced that physiotherapy, optometry and chiropractic services would no longer be covered by Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) for budgetary reasons. The recent announcement means that the Government has made special provision for continued funding for routine eye exams for many patients and has increased funding for many physiotherapy patients, while completely eliminating funding for chiropractic patients on December 1, 2004.

“The 1.2 million chiropractic patients in this province were led to believe that they were among a number of patients  -- physiotherapy and optometry patients included -- for whom government could no longer afford to provide funding. Now they are learning that the government has chosen to treat them fundamentally differently than patients seen by other health care professionals,” Dr. Wright said.

When, through more than 600,000 letters and signed petitions, patients called on the government last year to continue to fund chiropractic services, they were told that budget issues made it impossible and that the same thing was happening to patients treated by other health care professionals.

“We call on Premier McGuinty to do the right thing and treat chiropractic patients in an equitable manner as with those patients treated by other health care professionals. Access and affordability are crucial issues, for those most in need, especially when they are living on a limited income,” said Dr. Wright. “Government should take action  -- as they have just done for physiotherapy patients -- to protect those chiropractic patients. In doing so, government will reduce reliance on other services and reduce total healthcare costs.”