Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | C | Canada and the World Backgrounder

Under the weather: politicians say they are fixing our ailing health-care system and, in September 2004, the provinces signed a new funding deal, with Ottawa which may or may not make a difference.

Article Excerpt
Canada's publicly funded health-care system is a product of the belief that the community is stronger when it acts together than when we act as individuals; it is the essence of The Public Good. It guarantees that someone facing a catastrophic illness will be looked after even though the cost of treatment is well beyond the means of the person suffering.

But, the system itself is in poor health. The 2003 health accord included commitments to reform the system and $35 billion in new federal transfers for health care spread over five years. In addition there was a promise "to improve access and enhance accountability ... and insure the future sustainability" of health care across the country. Meanwhile, waiting lists for treatment grow longer: according to Ontario's Cardiac Care Network, the number of waiting patients approved for open-heart surgery was averaging 1,200 in 2004, and even the most urgent cases had to wait longer than the recommended wait time.

By 1996, Medicare's per-capita funding was two percent below its 1992 level, or 20 percent less than it needed to be to meet the health-care needs of Canadians. The results were fewer doctors and nurses, aging medical equipment, and a drop in hospital admissions. Our health-care system sank so low that even recent funding increases couldn't raise it enough to meet demand.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has been pushing for private health care for ages, flying in the face of the notion of universality. In July 2004, he proposed changing the system to include deductibles and private orthopedic surgery clinics, with for-profit hip and knee replacement clinics in Edmonton and Calgary, for example. He also proposed increasing health-care premiums (to 20 percent from 12 percent of services insured under the Canada Health Act, and collecting them through personal in come taxes), a fee charged regardless of whether people use the system. At the time, individuals in the province paid premiums of $528 a year while families paid $1,056, but many employers covered the costs.

Former health-care commissioner Roy Romanow said the proposals would set Alberta back to pre-Medicare days, but added that he didn't think they would "see the light of day." Instead, he saw it merely as a negotiating tactic to pry more money from the federal government's purse.

Even Mr. Klein knew private clinics would violate the Canada Health Act, which prohibits charging for medically necessary services.

Some critics of publicly funded health care argue that for-profit facilities would be more efficient, less wasteful, and better care providers. But, that's not what the numbers say. Research shows that for-profit care is consistently more expensive because of higher administrative costs (about six percent more), executive bonuses (about 20 percent more), and profit-taking. In addition, patient care is worse because corners are cut to save money, such as hiring fewer nurses.

According to a 2004 study, profit-driven businesses would add at least $7.2 billion a year to the cost of health-care delivery in Canada; that's without...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!