Ralph Klein In PG To Admit He 'Fell Short' on Reforming Health-care
By 250 News
Prince George, B.C.- Former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein will not mince words when it comes to his government’s performance in the arena of health reform, when he speaks to attendees at tonight’s 2008 Dr. Bob Ewert Memorial Lecture at the Prince George Civic Centre.
Klein is the keynote speaker at the annual fundraiser for the Northern Medical Programs Trust (NMPT), presented by the Northern Medical Society, the Prince George Community Foundation, NMPT, and UNBC.
"Of all the things we achieved during my time in office, reforming our health-care system is the one area where we fell short." the former premier says, in a text of his speech provided to the Calgary Herald.
The Herald article says, while Klein will use tonight’s lecture to call on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other premiers to soften the Canada Health Act to allow for-profit services and fewer government-insured treatments, he sees a futility as Canadians balk at what they see as efforts to change their birthright.
"Ten years ago, when I said the Canada Health Act was hopelessly out of date and blocking Canada’s health-care professionals from adapting to a new reality, I was called a maniac -- and worse," Klein writes.
"Today, Dr. Brian Day, the current president of the Canadian Medical Association, says I was right (about reform, not being a maniac), so I feel vindicated, but not victorious because I did not win."
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Posted by: REALIST on January 19 2008 12:14 PM
Increasing uninsured services simply results in sick people paying out of their own pocket. This is a major drain on the economy, since money spent on services that are invariably provided by out of country companies simply results in people spending their savings, or cashing in RRSPs, or taking out bank loans which have to be repaid. Whichever it is, it means that the money can't be used for its original purpose. If the people involved are retired, then it is just a case of don't eat or stay sick, of course.
In the case of publicly funded for profit health care the profits have to come from somewhere. No profit motivated company will provide services if they can't make a profit, and why would they? Since health care provision is highly controlled and about as efficient as it can get, the only way profits can be made is by reducing the quality of a service, a rather unlikely event; or to do fewer procedures for the same money, again rather unlikely; pay employees less, depending on the area this may work but competition for professionals makes it unlikely; or to charge extra, which is not allowed; or to be paid more than a publicly owned facility for providing the same services. This last one was, in fact, used by Mr Campbell a few years ago when he applied a profit factor to a contract after the quoted amount had been accepted, thereby tacitly acknowledging that publicly funded for profit health care is inherently more expensive than publicly funded and publicly provided health care.
The bottom line fact, proven time and time again in country after country and jurisdiction after jurisdiction, is that publicly funded, publicly administered and publicly provided health care is the most cost effective model, provided that adequate funding levels are maintained.
Unfortunately for the patients and taxpayer, the great amounts of money available in this area make an irresistible target and as a consequence we have this continuous undermining of our health care system which, despite a few shortcomings, is still the envy of the world.