What Does the CNIB do? The Canadian National Institute for the Blind, or CNIB for short, is a non-profit organization created with the mission to help Canadians with vision loss. As the national voice for those with vision loss, CNIB plays an...
Read more
Should I Wear Sunglasses in the Winter? As long as the sun is shining, and you are enjoying the outdoors, you should be wearing sunglasses, no matter the time of year. Light exposure can seriously harm the human eyes, whether it is during the...
Read more
How to Properly Care for my Contact Lenses Are you in need of vision wear but you hate the look and feel of glasses? Contact lenses are a great way to obtain the vision aid you need without the use of frames. An eye exam obtained by our...
Read more
How Often Should I Get an Eye Exam? Have you frequently been placing your annual health checkup with your doctor above your eye exam? Many people think that if they obtain their annual physical, that they are doing enough to keep track of their...
Read more
Difference Between Quality Eyewear and Cheap Eyewear Eyes are able to process 36,000 pieces of information in a single hour. Responsible for the input of our surrounding environment, our eyes play a crucial role in how we interact with the world...
Read more
Looking For a New Optometrist in my Area Human eyes are made up of over 2 million working parts, with eye muscles being the most active muscle in the entire body. They are the windows to the soul and the reason behind many love songs. To say the...
Read more
How to Choose the Right Glasses Frames While a fingerprint has 40 unique characteristics, an iris has 256, making your eye a defining feature of your identity. As every person is unique, so are their eyes, and should, therefore, be given the...
Read more
How Can Regular Eye Exams Benefit Long Term Health? The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends that adults undergo an eye exam every two years, while school-aged children and those over 65, should receive one annually. Frequent trips to...
Read more
Can Bifocals Help My Vision Issues? Bifocals are great for correcting two types of vision issues in one pair of glasses. If your eyes need different strength prescriptions for nearsightedness and farsightedness, you could benefit from the use of...
Read more
Find Progressive Lenses In My Area Progressive lenses consist of multiple strength prescriptions for those who needvision correction at all distances. Progressive lenses make transitioning between activities as seamless and as easy as the...
Read more
Benefits Of Wearing Sunglasses Year Round For many of us, when we think about sunglasses, bright, summer days come to mind. But the summer months are not the only time of year that we should be protecting our eyes from the damaging UV rays of the...
Read more
Cheap Contact Lenses vs. Quality Contact Lenses Many of us like to save money where we can in life, looking for good deals and cheap sales. But cheap isn’t always better. Cheaply made contact lenses can create a host of problems in your eyes...
Read moreBeginning September 1st, Optometrists across Ontario will stop providing OHIP insured eye exams for children, seniors and adults with OHIP covered eye conditions.
For over 30 years, successive Ontario governments have ignored Optometrists. In 1989 the fee paid for an OHIP insured eye exam was $39.15, today, over 32 years later, it is on average $44.65. This has not kept up with inflation and does not come close to covering the cost. Every time we perform an OHIP insured eye exam we do so at a loss. This is not sustainable.
ONTARIO IS THE LOWEST PAID IN CANADA
Our fees would have to increase by over 60% to reach the next lowest province. The bar graph here compares Ontario to other provinces that fully fund eye care.
You may have read the government has offered us an 8.48% increase in our fees. For a senior’s eye exam that would raise our fee to $51.00. While that seems generous, it still leaves us more than 30% lower than Manitoba, the next lowest paid province, while Ontario having one of the highest costs of living in Canada. Unfortunately, an 8.48% increase does not make up for 32 years of neglect. We need the government to prioritize and properly fund eye care to make it sustainable for years to come.
Please understand that we want this issue resolved permanently so that we can continue to provide the same high level of care that we’ve always provided for your eyes and vision.
We ask that you please treat our staff with kindness and understanding during this time.
Dr. Anukool Chadda,
Dr. Kevin Ahokas,
Dr. Eric Barry,
Dr. Janet Schenk,
Dr. Paul Zaugg
[Optometrists at Mountain Eye Care]