- Reaction score
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- Points
- 410
To me the debate often misses the belief that underlies our public health care scheme: that nobody should suffer or die simply because they lack the means to pay for health care. Unfortunately, that very honourable and morally indisputable belief has become lost under a welter of inadequate and badly administered programmes, soaring medical care costs, the vested interests of bureacracies, professions and businesses, an increasingly obese and aging population, political squabbling between Right and Left, provincial and federal, private and public, to the point at which discussing health care in Canada can be almost as explosive as talking about gun control in the US.
To me, we are squabbling about the "how" and losing sight of the "what and why". What matters is that people's quality of life is supported by a guaranteed and dependable quality of care, and that all people who need care can get it without fear of financial ruin. Beyond that, it really doesn't matter to me who delivers the care. For example, we talk about Canada's "public" system, yet what about drug stores? Tell me that drug stores aren't an important part of the total health care system? Yet does anybody seriously propose that the government run drug stores? What about all the hundreds of privately operated clinics across the country?
I think that there is too much fear mongering about market delivery of medical care. Let me draw an analogy. Food is vital for life, right? Probably even more vital than health care, if you get down to it. But does the government run food stores? No, it doesn't. We trust the market to deliver the food we need. If the fear-mongers' logic was correct, then food stores would sell only to the rich and the poor would starve in the street. Of course, this isn't what happens. The great majority of food stores sell to the great majority of Canadians: middle class, with middle class budgets and concern for value for bucks, who want to take care of their families' needs. Are there food stores for rich people? Yes, obviously (Whole Foods comes to mind...) Are there food stores for people with less money to spend? Yes to that, too. The point is that the market does a very good job of delivering a vital necessity of life: food.
So where does the government fit into that? It inspects food stores and food suppliers (perhaps not always as well as it should, but just try the food safety standards in 90% of this world and you'll come right back to Canada every time...). It regulates safety and working conditions in stores. And, for those people who can't afford food, it provides financial assistance through various programs. (Is that financial assistance always adequate? As somebody who has had two close relatives try to survive on govt allowances at different times, the answer is :"not always")
And that, to me, is where the govt should be in the health care game. Working to make sure that all Canadians have access to an excellent basic quality of safe health care, all the time. Help out when people's circumstances prevent them from getting the care they need, so that nobody has to sell their home as a choice against providing care for a child. Investigate and punish the quacks, scammers and rip-off artists, on both sides of the counter. But, except in very particular cases where there is a void, leave the actual delivery of health care to the market. The market, if it's properly regulated, will function by doing what it usually does: by giving most people what they need.
Cheers
To me, we are squabbling about the "how" and losing sight of the "what and why". What matters is that people's quality of life is supported by a guaranteed and dependable quality of care, and that all people who need care can get it without fear of financial ruin. Beyond that, it really doesn't matter to me who delivers the care. For example, we talk about Canada's "public" system, yet what about drug stores? Tell me that drug stores aren't an important part of the total health care system? Yet does anybody seriously propose that the government run drug stores? What about all the hundreds of privately operated clinics across the country?
I think that there is too much fear mongering about market delivery of medical care. Let me draw an analogy. Food is vital for life, right? Probably even more vital than health care, if you get down to it. But does the government run food stores? No, it doesn't. We trust the market to deliver the food we need. If the fear-mongers' logic was correct, then food stores would sell only to the rich and the poor would starve in the street. Of course, this isn't what happens. The great majority of food stores sell to the great majority of Canadians: middle class, with middle class budgets and concern for value for bucks, who want to take care of their families' needs. Are there food stores for rich people? Yes, obviously (Whole Foods comes to mind...) Are there food stores for people with less money to spend? Yes to that, too. The point is that the market does a very good job of delivering a vital necessity of life: food.
So where does the government fit into that? It inspects food stores and food suppliers (perhaps not always as well as it should, but just try the food safety standards in 90% of this world and you'll come right back to Canada every time...). It regulates safety and working conditions in stores. And, for those people who can't afford food, it provides financial assistance through various programs. (Is that financial assistance always adequate? As somebody who has had two close relatives try to survive on govt allowances at different times, the answer is :"not always")
And that, to me, is where the govt should be in the health care game. Working to make sure that all Canadians have access to an excellent basic quality of safe health care, all the time. Help out when people's circumstances prevent them from getting the care they need, so that nobody has to sell their home as a choice against providing care for a child. Investigate and punish the quacks, scammers and rip-off artists, on both sides of the counter. But, except in very particular cases where there is a void, leave the actual delivery of health care to the market. The market, if it's properly regulated, will function by doing what it usually does: by giving most people what they need.
Cheers
