Another day, another example or three of the Ford government’s inability to see even a couple of steps ahead as it goes about slashing services across Ontario.

The latest affects only a small number of people: dialysis patients who will no longer get any coverage under OHIP for the cost of treatment if they venture across the U.S. border.

The government is ending all out-of-country medical coverage for Ontarians, effective Oct. 1. People who rely on dialysis to cleanse their blood because of malfunctioning kidneys will be stranded. They need regular treatment so an end to all coverage hits them particularly hard.

That never occurred to the government, apparently. Health Minister Christine Elliott now says her officials will look at that and figure something out.

Maybe they will. But it isn’t just dialysis patients. It’s become distressingly clear that this government’s approach in all sorts of areas amounts to cut first, ask questions later.

Whether it be kids with autism, students in high school music programs, people who rely on public health services, medical researchers or Toronto subway riders, the pattern is the same.

The government announces a spending cut that takes everyone by surprise and then stands back as those directly involved scramble to puzzle out what just happened.

If it turns out some people are well and truly screwed, in a way that even the government can’t defend, it just might take another look. But the overriding priority is to get on with the cuts without so much as elementary notice or effective consultation.

In the case of the OHIP out-of-country cut, the government has managed to alarm even those who stand to be the biggest beneficiaries: private insurance companies.

After all, if Ontarians are no longer covered for any medical expenses outside Canada, they’ll have even more reason to get private coverage.

In fact, the government justifies ending all out-of-country payments for exactly that reason. Its spurious logic goes like this: since OHIP coverage falls well short of what you’ll actually have to pay if you end up in the U.S. medical system, we might as end all coverage and make you get private insurance.

Private insurers ought to be delighted; this should be a gift to them as Ontarians scramble for coverage even on short shopping forays over the border.

In fact, though, the group that speaks for them, called the Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance, issued a warning last week that the government is moving too fast and hasn’t communicated the change effectively enough.

The government announced the change in late April, to go into effect Oct. 1. And it set aside only a six-day period for consultation with the industry.

As a result, say the insurance people, they don’t have time to work out how much to charge for what kind of coverage and to train their employees to deal with anxious travellers looking for coverage. They want the government to make the change over a full year.

In fact, it’s a bad policy, whether done in five months or 12. The fact that OHIP doesn’t cover the full cost of medical care abroad is no argument for ending it. If the provincial plans pays nothing, then travellers will obviously end up paying more for private coverage (something they should already be buying).

In principle, too, it’s wrong. On the face of it, it violates the portability principle of the Canada Health Act. There’s a good reason why all other provinces extend medicare coverage to out-of-country travellers.

And in practice, it will save the government a very small amount — just $11.8 million in a health budget of $63.5 billion. The real issue the government should be tackling is the high cost of administering the program, something the province’s auditor general recommended last year.

Ontarians deserve better. At the bare minimum they deserve a government that figures out the effects of its actions before it pulls the trigger.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2019/05/21/ready-fire-aim-the-fords-reckless-approach-on-cutting-costs.html