public health care under attack in BC
I'm putting this in national news because it has country-wide implications. The BC government is being sued by a group of private health care clinics, led of course, by the infamous Dr. Brian Day. Apparently, the clinics have been receiving "threatening letters" from the government. The only story I could find is from the Times Colonist from Victoria. The clinics are suing to have the 2005 Supreme Court decision on Quebec apply to BC.
I heard George Abbott, our health minister, on the radio this morning. He said (paraphrasing), "Notwithstanding the debate between public and private health care, we have laws and it is our responsibility to uphold them". Imagine the irony of George Abbott having to champion the Canada Health Act and I wonder how good of a job "he" will do, given our government's philosophical support of a private health care system.
Yes, it's part of conservative strategy to wait until someone or some group bring it to court and privatization gains a hold without the politician having to make the unpopular law.
In Ontario, the neglectful attitude toward building more long term care homes will soon result in a similar outcome - and all new LTC facilities will be for-profit. Harris paved the way for this back in the late 90s. Local hospitals here have 20 to 30 per cent of their acute care beds taken up with old-timers now...and the Cambridge hospital went to nearly 50 per cent at one point last fall. And they could save millions, they've admitted, by lowering this to the "historical" 10 per cent.
Liberals and Conservatives here are waiting to see who blinks first and proposes new tax money to build the things - when the other will say at election time "gotcha"!! And, of course, the great unwashed will continue to vote for lower taxes - those that bother to turn out at election time - and spend their last days, down the road, in some miserable fire trap, four to a toilet.
You know, I was talking about the idea of deliberately chosen stategies vs making a decision with unintended consequences yesterday. I must be a Pollyanna because I find it so hard to actually believe that people do the former. However, I am beginning to shed that optimism and am facing it as a more than likely reality.
"You're only paranoid if they aren't really out to get you." someone whose name I can't find said that...
"You're only paranoid if they aren't really out to get you." someone whose name I can't find said that...
Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cinncinnati said, "When they're out to get you, paranoid is just good thinking."
I think I've said this before here, but it bears repeating: an ongoing Conservative strategy, when they get to positions of power in government, is to undermine public institutions with funding cuts. When the inevitable declines in service happen, they cite these declines as proof of the "inefficiencies" of the public sector, and argue for privatization.
It's rather an insulting point of view of their own staff. When the Harris Tories were in power in Ontario, I wrote a couple of papers for our minister showing how privatization of pharmacy services in our ministry would be horrifically more expensive. His assistant told me he said, "But I don't understand. The private sector is more efficient. This doesn't make sense."
Not to overstate the obvious, but the Conservative strategy is to reward their cronies in the private sector so that when they leave power, they've got plum jobs all lined up.
I agree with your point, Sineed. My struggle has been that historically, I thought of these as differences in philosophy and then, the resulting strategy. Now, (and I agree, I'm probably slow on the uptake), the scales have fallen from my eyes and I now believe that those who support privatization are actually deliberately killing people to promote their agenda.
No amount of reports made to various Committees, no amount of rational thought, connecting the dots, etc, is worth the time, is it? Educating the public is the hope in these scenarios but I'm beginning to lose faith in that, too, since most of them lap up the msm messge.
Here you can read about the issues with activity based funding that the province is trying to push through:
updated link was dead
http://www.nursesunions.ca/position-statement/hospital-funding
You're Invited! Free Public Forum: Public Health Care: How can we sustain it?
We increasingly hear that more private for-profit health care is needed to ensure that our public health care system remains “sustainable”. Is this really true?
The BCHC is excited to host a free public forum that will explore the motivation behind, and implications of, expanded for-profit health care in BC and Canada. Guest speakers include:
* Iglika Ivanova, Economist and Public Interest Researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on supporting innovation in the public health care system.
* Legal expert Steven Shrybman on the aggressive constitutional challenge being waged by private health care investors to open up public health care to American-style insurance companies.
* U.S. physician Dr. Paul Hochfeld on working within the costliest and most inequitable health care system in the world and the need for meaningful health care reform.
Friday May
14th
7:00pm
Firefighters Conference
6515 Bonsor Street
Burnaby
(In the Metrotown complex)
Funds will be raised for our Medicare Legal Defence Fund
For more information: ph: 604.681.7945
info@bchealthcoalition.ca
www.bchealthcoalition.ca
For those who care about health care in this country this is an important site to see:
http://www.healthcoalition.ca/
When finished reading please consider going to the donate section and give them a little money. They do great work and operate on a tiny budget. The only way this kind of work can get done is if people support it.
Also go to the left and view the endorsement of Keifer Sutherland and sign the Medicare Pledge.
People here know that I don't shill for many organizations but if you believe Douglas was the greatest Canadian and Health care our greatest achievement then here is a way you can make that count.
As you may know you can't press the government on policy issues without losing your charitable status (unless you are right wing but that's another story) so this organization has never been a registered charity for tax purposes.
Pardon me, but public healthcare has been systematically undermined across this country for some years now.
As I was reminded in another thread, federal transfer payments for healthcare were drastically cut by the Liberals and private clinics allowed to be opened. (for "particular" treatments) I've also been told (incorrectly perhaps?) that if any one part of the country opens their door to them, every other part is obliged to follow under NAFTA. Very democratic.
So what I would like to know now is what would any of the other parties do differently, given that all the official parties now support "free trade" in practice?