We need solutions for rising health-care costs

Our system is magnificent but is it sustainable, asks George Brookman.

I found myself spending a lot of time in two Calgary hospitals this past couple of weeks. What I discovered was an incredible group of people at both the Peter Lougheed Hospital and the Rockyview General Hospital who are caring, professional, friendly and willing to help and to listen.

You hear a lot about the service and the costs of our medical system, but in terms of the individuals that you encounter when you are at the hospital, it is an amazing experience and when you are in a stressful situation, it is a huge comfort to work with people who are so obviously dedicated to their role in our lives.

At 1 a.m., sitting in the emergency department of Rockyview, I was also struck by how incredibly fortunate we are to live in this community.

I sat there in immaculate surroundings, listening to the beeps and sounds of the world’s most modern equipment. One cannot help but wonder how many people in the world must view what we, as Canadians, so often take for granted.

My mind wandered to the fact that even the most wealthy of kings and queens of just 60 or 70 years ago could never have dreamed of the ability we enjoy today for good health and for modern medical miracles.

Consider King George V who died in 1936. There was no penicillin, no MRI, heart monitors or amazing painkillers. It is easy to forget, that even the simplest act of taking an Aspirin or a Tylenol 3 would be “envied by kings” of just a few generations ago.

We are truly blessed and after the past few days of listening, watching and appreciating, I did not want these few lines today to be anything but an expression of wonder at how incredibly fortunate we are as Canadians and Albertans.

None of this comes for free, of course, and almost half of our provincial budget is used up by health care. It is worthwhile to pause and question whether the system, as great as it is, can survive for our children and our grandchildren to enjoy?

For several years, everyone in Alberta used to receive a statement of care which outlined annually, just how much your own personal use of the health-care system had been.

No one was asked to pay, no one was questioned about why they used the system, it was simply an awareness program to help people understand where the costs were coming from and how they benefited from those tax dollars.

That practice was stopped because some people were offended to learn what they had cost the system. I never understood that.

For as long as I can remember, we also had a monthly health-care premium, which was modest by any measure but did bring in about a billion dollars a year toward the costs.

It’s difficult to remember the exact amount of the premiums, but I do recall they were incredibly small. No one ever complained about them, and when the Stelmach Conservatives dropped them, there was almost universal agreement that it was a bad decision.

We do have great health care in Alberta; we do have tremendous people and excellent facilities and modern equipment; and, yes, I believe that we would be truly “envied by kings” from less than 75 years ago. But, and this is a big but, if we want our future families to continue to enjoy what we have today, we must find ways to control the costs. Whether it is a simple system of accounting for what we spend; whether it is a modest premium that should never have stopped; whether it is a move toward a private-public system or some other solution; this is a problem that must be solved; and better minds than mine should be looking at these ideas right now.

We should not be the last generation to have the “best of the best,” but if we do not find solutions to the rising costs, we may well be exactly that. George Brookman is CEO of West Canadian Digital Imaging Inc. and former president of the Calgary Stampede.

Consider King George V who died in 1936. There was no penicillin, no MRI, heart monitors or amazing painkillers.