I can remember a few years ago when Sicko was released, Mike Moore was on CNN with Doctor Sanjay Gupta insisting that Canadian health care was "free". This led to a heated exchange where Gupta (who also favoured more socialized medicine) was trying to explain to Moore that health care consumed an enormous amount of the Government budget. Moore just kept repeating "no, it is free". He could not wrap his feeble mind around the idea that it costs a lot, and the Government has to pay for it through taxation.
Reading today that health care expenditures are about to consume half of Ontario's expenditures by next year, I am reminded of the blind ignorance of a man heralded by the left as a Prophet of Health. I am also reminded of the federal Liberal Party chastising the Tory Government for not going on CNN to defend the Canadian system when experts south of the border were noting that adopting the Canadian model would be incredibly expensive and slow the speed of delivery. I have nothing but positive things to say about the doctors and nurses who have provided me with health care in my lifetime, and it is not their fault that our current system is extremely expensive. High cost and rationed delivery is what you get when you put the Government in charge of any business.
In the case of Ontario, I am frustrated by this headline that health care is going to consume half the budget by 2010, and this is despite Dalton introducing massive new health care tax premiums in his first budget; which greatly increased his government's tax revenue. I also remember reading a story a few years ago that Dalton was going to start paying for things like sex changes. I sent an e-mail to one of my Poli Sci friends titled "is Dalton McGuinty nucking futs?"
Short of banging my head against a wall, I don't know how else to make the point that a regulated tiered system with private enterprise is absolutely necessary. Government monopolies in any business are never a good thing. We need to inject a little "common sense" into our health care debate.
Health care in BC consumes about half the provincial budget, too, partly because our population is made up of a significant percentage of retirees, many having drifted over here from other provinces due to our milder climate.
ReplyDeleteSuch is life.
The health care field provides a lot of jobs.
As an aside, Iceman, be aware that Moe Sihota as NDP President is sure to shake up the socialist party. Already, Carole James and Jim Sinclair of the BC Federation of Labour are arguing about the direction the party should take. Gotta love BC politics!
ReplyDeleteIt is because people think health care is free that they waste their time accessing when not warranted. USER FEES! Let people pay for their own healthy embryo pics.
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