National Post (National Edition)
Health-care system mediocre at best
Re: Our ailing health care, Matt Gurney, July 6
Matt Gurney’s assessment of the state of heath care in this country is totally correct. It is mediocre at best, and unfortunately the majority of Canadians simply don’t care. It’s incredulous that people manage to convince themselves that we have the best health-care system in the world. The reality is that we rank near the bottom of developed countries in terms of wait times and access to such basic diagnostics as MRI, PET and CT. Sadly, Canadians are an apathetic bunch more than happy to settle for mediocrity. The fact that health care is never an election issue speaks volumes.
Matt’s article seemed to imply that we do however have better health care than in the United States. This is simply untrue. While the U.S. has issues with affordability and insurance, the vast majority of middle-class Americans receive excellent care without the horrendous waiting and overcrowding that exists in Canada. Moreover, there are many surgeries and medical procedures offered in the U.S. but not in Canada.
One issue he failed to mention is that every developed nation (with the exception of Canada) has both public and private health care. (The “boogeyman” of private care so demonized by many Canadians). I live in Vancouver and our NDP government is fighting tooth and nail to close the private clinics and diagnostic centres. Once again, no pushback from the apathetic general public.
The delusional people in this country take comfort in believing that we have “the best health care in the world.” Perhaps when some of these fellow citizens need to avail themselves of the Emergency Room and other services, they will wake up to reality.
David Gilmour, Vancouver
Matt Gurney could have said British Columbia instead of Ontario in his opinion piece of July 6 and accurately summarized the situation we face here on the West Coast. My wife and I are amongst the thousands here in B.C. that have no primary care physician and no rational basis for optimism that will ever change. Platitudes and photo-ops abound extolling wondrous things yet to come, but the results are dismal and growing worse.
Gurney describes our health-care system as “mediocre” and he is right. The World Health Organization ranks Canada about 30th globally in terms of national care quality, and as Gurney points out, we have one of the most expensive health-care systems in the world in terms of per capita spending. Sure, we rank better than the United States, which sits about 36th, but we rank far below all western European countries, Australia and New Zealand, and the question has to be, why?
All of those countries that rank well ahead of us have “national health-care systems” but what Gurney failed to mention is that the services therein are largely provided through the private sector. Canada, North Korea and Cuba are the only countries that I am aware of that specifically prohibit the presence of private sector health-care providers within the overall health-care system. Might it just be possible that the private sector could be more efficient, hence less costly, than a government-run bureaucratic system?
A rejoinder attributed to Milton Friedman stated that if you were to put most governments in charge of the Sahara Desert, there would be a shortage of sand within five years. We have had government in complete charge of our healthcare system for over half a century and our situation is past the critical stage; it is a crisis. Rather than adhering to failed political ideologies, it would behoove us all, as Gurney suggests, to have a very serious look at what others are doing right that we are not. Something needs to change and change soon.