Essay on Ontario Health Insurance Plan Should Pay for Breast Screening

Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) is among the main players in Canada's health insurance. It serves the people of Ontario and has had a great impact on the lives of many people insured. The importance of health insurance in todays world is too obvious. Millions of people who without financial assistance would be incapable of affording treatment worldwide have benefited from health insurance schemes. However, some health insurers do not cover some patients needs completely at times. Against all the odds, the OHIP should pay for breast screening.

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The high cost of breast screening would discourage some women from doing regular breast screening if OHIP were not to pay for it. For example, the cost of a single mammogram is about $80 while that of an MRI is about $1000.If breast screening were to be done regularly, then the total costs for breast screening would be huge(Will et al. 2000). All ladies in Ontario should get access to breast screening irrespective of their financial status. Breast screening is very vital for all ladies, and its a must if they are willing to prevent cancer during their lifetimes. If ladies were to keep paying for regular screening out of their pockets, some could be discouraged to go for screening next time due to costs incurred. This is worrying as some ladies would skip the regular screenings due to financial issues. It is for this reason that the Ontario Health Insurance Plan should pay for breast screening as this would improve access to the service (Glazier et al. 2009).

The Ontario health insurance plan is normally available at sites that have only quality health assurance accreditation hence it promotes only quality services. Patients should always get access to quality services and discourage backstreet and unaccredited medical programs. Normally, breast screening can only be done accurately and successfully by qualified medical professionals. Breast cancer screening done by unqualified personnel means that one is exposed to the risk of developing full-blown breast cancer. Accredited breast screening sites always provide extra services such as organizing for extra screening tests if the results require so. This decreases the mortality rates of women due to breast cancer which can be easily tamed when detected early. MRI testing, for example, should only be done for specific patients such as those with a history of breast cancer in their families. However, some hospitals motivated by money will haphazardly recommend this procedure for almost any lady without in-depth analysis. This can be avoided by using the OHIP which will only be attached to recognized medical institutions. Chances of better health outcomes can only be increased when very organized screening is done. This can best be achieved if the OHIP pays for breast screening.

The Ontario Health insurance plan should be a wholly inclusive plan in paying for health-related issues for anybody covered. It can pay for every lady doing breast screening without going bankrupt since its a government run program. It is a nice way to utilize the taxes paid by Canadians.

References

Glazier, R. H., Agha, M. M., Moineddin, R., & Sibley, L. M. (2009). Universal health insurance and equity in primary care and specialist office visits: a population-based study. TheAnnals of Family Medicine, 7(5), 396-405.

Will, B. P., Berthelot, J. M., Le Petit, C., Tomiak, E. M., Verma, S., & Evans, W. K. (2000). Estimates of the lifetime costs of breast cancer treatment in Canada. European journal of cancer, 36(6), 724-735.