Letter — U.S. style of health care isn’t the answer here

LETTER — On Sept. 8 a dangerous legal attack on Canada’s public health care system will begin in the B.C. Supreme Court and most people in Canada have heard nothing about it.

For-profit clinic owner Brian Day is trying to use the court to strike down the rules that prevent a US-style system in Canada. Day claims that the defining principle at the heart of Canadian Medicare – that health services be provided according to patients’ needs, not their ability to pay – is unconstitutional. If Day wins, the public system that Canadians rely on – and overwhelmingly support – will be dismantled across the country.

Despite the serious risk this case poses to our health, communities, and economy, it’s had very little coverage in the media.

Evidence shows that what Day is seeking would lead to longer wait times for care and poorer health for Canadians. Also, there is no evidence that private, for-profit care results in better care – not anywhere in the world.

“A provincial audit of Day’s Cambie Surgery Centre and the associated Specialist Referral Clinic found that patients were unlawfully extra-billed $491,654 in just one 30 day period. In one case, a Cambie patient was billed $7,215.00 for services that would have cost only $1,288.04 in the BC health care system. Auditors also found over $66,000 in overlapping claims – evidence that suggests double dipping for the same services.” (“Legal challenge threatens medicare,” Opinion section, Vancouver Sun, May 1, 2014.)

Our public health care system needs improvement but reverting to a U.S. style of care where wealth determines your place in the lineup for service, not need, is the wrong way to go; it will only increase wait times for most of us and worsen outcomes.

One example of the many cost effective improvements that could be made to speed up wait times and improve health outcomes is more home and community care that gets seniors out of hospital beds and back in their homes or in residential care, and frees up more hospital beds for those who need acute care.

There are many other ways of improving the system, but Day’s remedy is not one of them; it will only make matters worse.

RICK TURNER

Kamloops Health Coalition