Phendrana Drifts

On the whole, I am indifferent to public vs. private delivery of health care. Oh sure, I hate the Americans, and as a result think my system is better. And of course, I don't always have a tonne of cash (who am I kidding, I never have a tonne of cash) so I don't want to die simply because I don't have enough money. But those in themselves are not a good enough reason in my mind to have socialized health care.

In my opinion, the drawbacks of a "two-tiered" or even entirely private health care system can be addressed through other vehicles of public policy. A health care loan system, or public insurance plan that low to middle income Albertans/Canadians qualify for could potentially work. The argument that the Canada Health Act is the only way to guarantee access to medical care for each Canadian regardless of financial background is simply false. No, the United States does not have the model I'm thinking of, but there are ways.

That said, I am huge fan of socialized health care. Why? Because it is cheaper.

My "progressive" friends (I don't know when, but apparently the term "lefty" or "hippie" got replaced with "progressive" at some point when I wasn't looking) think this is fantastic. See, right-wing boy thinks medicine should be communist. But before they get too excited, the catch is that if someone came up with a cheaper package for society that offered decent health care, I would probably embrace that.

And that is why I think my Premier is doing the right thing. Not because I agree with him on introducing private health care. Because I don't. But because he wants a cheaper system. And he wants to talk about that. And while he doesn't get to this point often, the painful reality is that health care is turning out to be more and more expensive for everyone. Not just the state, and their portion, but everyone. The health care stuff that isn't covered by the state is also going up in total cost. Certainly I can prove that the governments of Canada are spending more on health care, but so are individual Canadians. And the reality is this inexorable climb in cost cannot go on forever. There is only so much resources in Canada.

Personally I don't think further introduction of private health care is the answer. From everything I've read, it will simply move more of the cost onto the shoulders of individual Canadians, and at a premium. And frankly, I don't have the answer. Chances are if I did, I would be Prime Minister or Premier right now. But looking at the numbers, someone needs the answer sooner or later, otherwise some provinces (not mine as long as people buy oil at $50 a barrel) will abandon health care completely. Cry out to Ottawa and say you take it. Screw our constitutional rights to health, we can't afford it. And as with most major public policy problems, if Canadians don't talk about it, we won't solve it. So certainly in that sense I'm content with the Supreme Court decision (I'm no lawyer, but I did find it strange that the court ruled the Province of Quebec can't outlaw private health care when it isn't so good at public) - it will provoke discussion. Heck look at me, when do I post about public policy?

Twitter Updates

0 Comments: