A new poll says long wait times lead half of Canadians to avoid seeing a doctor or going to the hospital.
The poll was conducted by Léger and commissioned by right-leaning think-tanks the Montreal Economic Institute, SecondStreet.org, and the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
The percentage of respondents who say they avoid consulting doctors because of wait times is highest among women, people over 55 and Quebecers.
You just described Canada today. My mother’s immune system is compromised. She needs one. She also has private insurance. That’s still not guaranteed.
So that’s a call for more public funding, not more private for profit care
It’s a call for both, like they do in places like Germany. It is possible to have a properly run two-tier health care system. If your comparison is the US, you’re not actually arguing against what I said but against what you heard.
If you have properly funded public healthcare, then there is no need for private. German has it because of conservative types pushing for profit driven models. As soon as profit is the metric, then patient quality of care suffers
It is very possible to have a two-tier health care system, still value the public health care model, and have a right wing government. They’ve done it for years in Norway. And even in Germany, no one significant is pushing for full privatization. That is strictly an American concept and Canada would do well to train itself out of it. Especially since we’re turning away from America and toward the EU.
Give me a reason why private is needed, it matters not who’s instituted it.
I can give you several. The question you should be asking is what makes pretty much every other health care system in the world better than ours. Our health care system is only better than the US. And part of the reason is because the better performing health care systems aren’t entirely private, and aren’t entirely public. They’re both. And part of the reason Canada’s system is slightly better than the US is because the US is the opposite side of Canada’s coin. The US won’t improve because it refuses to introduce a proper public system, and Canada’s won’t improve because we refuse to introduce a proper private system. The countries that get over themselves long enough to do that (again, see countries like Norway) are doing better than we are. Even with Conservative governments. Ask yourself why.
So you can’t answer why private is needed? Or what it provides.
A public system in Canada could be world class if it wasn’t always being under funded. Private doesn’t bring any magic dust.
No, but it does bring flexibility, including services that the public system won’t provide or won’t provide soon enough. How long are the waitlists for hip and knee surgeries in your province? Private surgeries could shorten that list and let people who can’t afford it move further up.
Let me answer your question with a question. Why do people have private health insurance? Should we make it illegal? What would making it illegal do to the public system?
I’m not saying don’t properly fund the public system. It’s not either or. It’s and. You’re stuck on either or because the US is right there. The UK does and. Norway does and. Germany does and. Australia does and. Canada and the US do or, and you know what the results are.