Canada’s health care is inadequate
Re If we don’t fix medicare, we may lose it, Editorial, June 16 Kudos to the Star’s Editorial Board for pointing out what every provincial politician and health administrator has been saying for decades: Ottawa can’t expect the Canada Health Act to remain viable if the feds won’t foot their end of the bill.
What raised my eyebrow, though, was the “choice” we might face of “accepting inadequate care for all.”
For all but the wealthiest, we have long since accepted inadequate care in Canada. Most hospitals run at or above capacity at all times, wait lists for home care and long-term care are atrocious, and the most disadvantaged Canadians are without basic utilities, never mind cutting-edge medicine.
In business, there’s the old adage of “Good, cheap or on time — you can have two.” In health care, we’re trying to have comprehensive, timely, accessible everywhere and at all times, equitable, patient-centred, evidence-based, sustainable and accountable.
Even if such a system were logically possible, it can’t be built atop an obsolete insurance plan that was never designed to be all things to all people. And it surely won’t emerge by magic from government micromanagement or jurisdictional squabbling. Dr. Franklin Warsh, London, Ont. The biggest problem is our medicare is not run efficiently. The aim should be: How can we get this patient well as soon as possible, even if we have to spend more money, because it will save us money in the long run. Cutting doctors and nurses is not the way to go, nor are overcrowded emergency rooms. Health care should be run by the federal government, not the provinces, so the same care is available across Canada. And yes, we should try to learn from other nations that are more successful at this, like a lot of European countries.
If they are so petrified about the cost, then let us pay something like an additional health insurance, according to our income. I don’t think Canadians would be opposed to this if the outcome would be health care we can rely on. Elizabeth Crhak, Etobicoke