Think again about private health care
Re Health- care debate
Regarding the privatization of health care, be very careful what you wish for. As a medical researcher, I have had the opportunity to live in both Canada and the United States and I have been exposed to both healthcare systems. With the election looming, my heart sinks as medical privatization becomes more acceptable to Canadians. The United States currently operates under a mixed private and federally funded medicare system. Thus we can evaluate de facto just how successful the proposed private/ public Canadian system would be.
In the U. S, health- care institutions are for-profit organizations with huge yearly earnings. This money comes, in large part, from patients. You must have private health insurance to afford such care. To give some perspective, it costs an average of $500 per month for the medical insurance of a single adult. This amount provides similar or poorer care than currently available in Canada. For a family of four, decent medical insurance can easily cost $ 2,000 per month. Canadian businesses are not equipped to absorb this cost for their employees — so who will be paying this?
In addition, the patient is responsible for a copayment fee for each doctor’s visit, emergency room visit, hospital stay, etc. Of course, there are clinics and hospitals that accept Medicaid patients, however, the quality of care at these institutions is lesser since they cannot provide the high salaries to attract top doctors and nurses. In addition, a lot of high cost procedures are not covered by Medicaid and thus patients in this system are not eligible for the latest treatments and diagnostics. Ask any American what are the best things about Canada. He or she will undoubtedly include public health care in that list. They are not wrong.
Canadians do not fully understand what they are asking for when they talk about private health care. I understand the Canadian health system is under tremendous stress and not without problems, but privatization is not the answer. Privatization will only improve health care for the wealthy, while the average Canadian citizen will be stuck with costly, mediocre health care.
Canada, please think again. Look to the south. Is that what you aspire to? Because it is the path you are taking
I’ll leave you with one thought: No one in Canada loses his or her house due to a child’s illness. This happens all too often in the U. S. Erica Fradinger, Post-doctoral Scholar, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles