December 5, 2005
The Friends of Medicare and the NDP - The Real Threat to Canada’s Healthcare System
For those of you reading this article outside of Canada, there is a huge debate in Canada regarding the future of our “so-called” public healthcare system.
In most political debates you usually end up with radicals on both sides of an issue with the moderates in the middle who end up making sense of the entire mess. However, the current healthcare debate in Canada has taken on a new level of fear-mongering and propaganda not seen since the time of the Nazi’s back in the 1930’s. Because of the The Friends of Medicare and the NDP (Canada’s New Democratic Party), Canada’s healthcare system is in danger of crumbling for future generations as these two organizations are the modern day fear-mongers.
First, let me start off by saying that I am not a proponent of private healthcare, however, I am not a proponent of a public healthcare system either. The reason I claim these two organizations are doing a disservice to Canadians regarding the healthcare debate is that they are basing all their arguments on fear as opposed to looking at solutions to reduce wait times as well as costs.
There are 2 primary issues of the Canadian healthcare debate that these organizations cloud as 1 issue, which in turn is not allowing Canadians to make an informed decision. The 2 issues are as follows:
1) Who pays for healthcare?
2) Who delivers healthcare?
These are actually 2 separate issues, when approached individually give us a better opportunity to solve Canada’s healthcare problem, however, The Friends of Medicare and the NDP continue to combine these issues when they address Canadians.
Before going any further, here is some information I would like to share with you.
According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information:
In 2001, total health care spending in Canada was projected to have exceeded $100 billion (National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975-2001). CIHI’s health spending databases track where the money comes from and how it is spent, at both the macro and selected micro levels. You can view the source page here: http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=spend_e
According to Stats Canada, in 2001 Canada’s population was just over 31 million people.
So, if I get out my calculator and do some quick calculations, what I find out is that it costs $3,225.81 per year per Canadian to deliver healthcare. Now according to CIHI, in 2001 the total number of hospitalizations in Canada were 2,818,650. Which means per person hospitalized in Canada for 2001, the cost was $35,477.98.
Regardless of what it costs to keep our citizens healthy is okay with me, however, I want accountability for these dollars.
The position that the NDP and Friends of Medicare take is that when you visit a hospital you should only use your health card and not your credit card for service, I agree. They point to the United States and say not that system in Canada. Fair enough, but how about pointing to France where they have a public / private system working together? How come they won’t look at France or any other country in Europe as a potential model? I believe the reason is this, when you breed fear and propaganda, you better ensure you stick to your story and otherwise people will know you are a fraud. If you truly give a shit about the welfare of Canadians, stop looking at the US model - start looking at the European Model.
The NDP and Friends of Medicare talk about it is the government’s responsibility to pay for our healthcare - but who is the government? Me and the other 31 million Canadians in Canada who pay taxes every year. They approach this issue as if the government is some alien organization who pulls money from their ass to pay for this social service. I along with the other tax payers, pay for this service and we deserve to know that our money is being used the most efficient way possible.
Now to the issue of who pays for healthcare and who delivers it. The NDP and Friends of Medicare don’t want private organizations involved in healthcare, they claim that if people work for profit they start to gouge. However, last time I checked most family physicians operated private companies, with their own staff, their own offices and their own administration. The reality is this, the public healthcare system pays a private organization every time I go to visit my family doctor.
So is the issue who pays for healthcare or who delivers it? There are many examples in Canada where the public healthcare system pays the bill through our tax dollars, yet the delivery is through private for-profit companies. However, this group keeps telling Canadians that a private healthcare system is the death of a public healthcare system. Glad to see they keep breeding fear.
I believe the following healthcare services are important, yet, they are private in Canada and being delivered quite well I might add:
• dental
• physio
• chiro
• hearing aids
• dentures
• mri’s
• etc, etc, etc
In some cases the public system pays for certain people of our population but in many cases if I want the services I pay for it.
It is very healthy to have the discussion about private and public health care when it is approached with thought and with a common goal of the most effective delivery for all Canadians. If you are diagnosed with Cancer, I don’t want you worrying about paying the bill, but I do want to ensure that you are cured and taken care of the most efficient way possible. Why can’t we have the private system develop the processes of efficiency and in turn the system is paid for by the public system to ensure that we have healthcare for future generations? Last time I checked governments have a real hard time with efficiency.
It is not healthy for 2 organizations in Canada, the NDP and the Friends of Medicare to spew their negative propaganda, which confuses Canadians about the real issue for their own political agenda’s. What are those political agenda’s, I am not sure, because they don’t even understand the fundamentals of the 2 questions about who should pay and who should deliver. The NDP claim they are standing up for Canadians and represent our best interest, yet they have never governed? They have never been elected in Canada to lead our great country. They represent a minority, yet they want to represent my healthcare interests.
Sorry NDP and Friends of Medicare, if you cannot look at all the facts, if you are ignorant to explore the European model of delivery (notice delivery not who pays), and are unwilling to address the real issues - I don’t want you representing my healthcare future.
