Right now there's a legal attack before the courts that could turn Canada's Medicare system into a U.S.-style system.
The attack is driven by Dr. Brian Day, owner of the Vancouver-based Cambie Surgery Centre, a for-profit surgical clinic known for unlawfully billing for medically-necessary care.
If Dr. Day wins this case, we'll lose the public health-care system that we all rely on. Expensive private insurance will become the new norm, like in the United States where it costs the average family $16,000 a year. Most bankruptcies in the U.S. are due to medical bills - we don't want to see a system in Canada where we risk losing our homes or go deep in debt when we get sick or injured.
We have to make sure Dr. Day is defeated. Poll after poll shows that Canadians favour investment and innovation in public health care to improve the system for everyone, not the expansion of for-profit health care that benefits only a very wealthy elite.
Are there problems that need to be addressed in our public health care system? Absolutely, and there is also a host of public innovations and efficiencies that can be implemented across the system to decrease wait times where needed and further improve quality of care.
Let's focus on strengthening our treasured system, rather than replacing it with a U.S.-style system that would ultimately lead to poorer, more expensive care for all of us.
Troy Zohner
North Central Health Coalition
