Health care realities

Re: Myths of health care die hard, Chris Selley, Aug. 25

The Liberal party’s attack on Erin O’toole’s prescription for private-sector innovation in the delivery of health care defies reality and reflects the ongoing incoherence of the Liberal election campaign. The private sector is already heavily involved in the delivery of health care in this country. Physicians, dentists and optometrists are all private business people. The same radiologist working in your local hospital is likely to be a partner in private diagnostic clinic providing government-funded services in competition with hospital-based diagnostic services.

Yet the reality is that Canada’s public health-care system is not nearly as effective, efficient or innovative as our political leaders want us to believe. This reality is not because of private-sector involvement in health care, but in spite of it. The pandemic did not cause the stresses we are currently seeing in our health-care system. The pandemic only made the shortcomings of our system more obvious.

Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and many Canadians blindly continue to hold up our single-payer, single-tier health-care system as a defining characteristic of what makes Canada great. As long as we continue to believe this myth, our ability to fix our health-care system will be challenging, if not impossible. Perhaps it is time to debate scrapping the Canada Health Act. I would argue that it is the single greatest obstacle to innovation in health care. As a former health bureaucrat and hospital executive, I anxiously wait a meaningful discussion and debate on health care in Canada. We won’t build a better health-care system with the pedantic sloganeering we are getting so far in this election campaign.

Paul Clarry, Aurora, Ont.

Next time I’m ill or injured, I’m phoning our veterinarian.

If one of our dogs is ill, we can see a vet within three hours. If the dog needs an X-ray, it’s done then and there. If he needs blood work, it’s done then and there; a medical test, done then and there; and if medications are required, they are provided then and there.

If I can wrangle an appointment with my doctor, it’s days from then. If I need blood work, it’s another appointment elsewhere more days hence. If I need a medical test, it’s another appointment elsewhere more days hence. And if I need to see a specialist, it may not happen.

Practitioners in public health care are good people who work extremely hard for their patients, as do vets in private health care. Of course, a huge difference is that the private provider expects to be paid (lots) and immediately. The public provider gets paid from my (and my neighbours’) taxes. Fraser Petrick, Kingston, Ont.

I will believe that Canada should minimize private industry participation in the health-care industry when someone convinces me that bureaucrats in Ottawa and the provincial capitals can spend my money more effectively than I can.

John P. A. Budreski, Vancouver