Canada inches toward private medicine

[Karlin]

Something as essential as basic health care has to be equally accessable to all of us, it is a sort of starting point. That has always been a Canadian value.

We do not believe anyone should be left out, and most of us abhor what goes on in the US - people go broke because they have a health issue.

However, we have some citizens - and medical professionals who own corporations like Cambie surgical centres - trying to undermine that ideal the Canadians hold so dear. They have an agenda to get 'private insurers' to start managing people's health care in Canada now.

First they lobby government to underfund the system, and find all sorts of ways to ratchet up costs - including using every new pill the pharma-giants dish out and ignoring non-patentable medicines that would cost less and be better for the patient in many cases.

Next, when the budgets are just too small to cover it all, they declare the public health care system dead.

RIGHT ON CUE -
Dr. Brian Gay says that "the Canadians health care system is unsustainable, and therefore there is a role for private medicine to play now". He cites a Quebec Supreme court finding that allows private medicine when public systems fail to provide. There is a lot of resistance to this idea....

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Canada inches toward private medicine

The court granted a year's reprieve Thursday on its decision striking down a ban on private insurance.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0808/p06s01-woam.html

For many Canadians, private healthcare wears the scarlet A - for America.

"There is no political support for American-style healthcare," says Michael McBane, coordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition, a healthcare advocacy group. He says he hopes provinces will toughen laws to prevent private insurers from entering the market.

Allowing people to buy private health insurance violates fundamental rights, McBane says , because not everyone will be able to afford it.

"You can't discriminate based on the size of your wallet on something as important as healthcare," McBane says. "I would say this is an aberration and the democratic process will correct it."

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more links -
Dr. Day's Doublespeak
http://www.healthcoalition.ca/doctorprofit.html

Misguided proposals for two-tier health care
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/246312

Canada's Healthcare Identity

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0620/p08s02-comv.html?s=widep

 

[YoungJoonKim]

If Canada goes private health care, I will immigrate to Britain.
I swear.
Or join protests that goes on for forever.