This past week I was listening to CBC radio. The topic of discussion was the story of the current court case between the BC medical system and the privately run Cambie Surgery Centre.
Representing the side of the BC medical system ( for the radio discussion only ) was a Professor from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, Prof. Colleen Flood. Representing the Cambie Surgery Centre was the Medical Director, Dr. Brian Day.
I was not impressed with the behavior of Dr. Day because he attacked the character of Prof. Flood as well as discussing the topic at hand.
Why would a professional person think that character assassination is part of the pertinent points of the discussion?
Is it because he has nothing of value to say, or was he feeling out gunned? When I hear negative responses such as Dr. Day’s, it always makes me wonder about the motives of the speaker.
In listening to the pros and the cons about private health care, I remembered my own short stay in the good ol’ US of A, 1988 to 1994. I was there in my 40’s so I had few health issues. It wasn’t until my last year of being in the USA that I subscribed to a private health care plan.
I was employed at one of the three hospitals. My employer was a non profit facility in the community of 30,000 people. The hospital subsidized my health care premium which was $300.00 a month. That was only enough money to cover my daughter and I. My wife was not covered for I didn’t make enough money to include her too.
I was a laborer at the hospital so my pay was small. If I had been a professional my pay would have been 3 times as much so I would have been able to include my wife in the health care premium. We didn’t use the coverage because we moved back to Canada that year.
The hospital had a busy Emergency Room. They treated over 2000 people a year who hadn’t any health insurance. The cost to walk through those Emergency Room doors was $400.00. At that time there were over 30 million Americans without any form of health care.When people went to any hospital they were very, very sick.
There was no preventative medicine practiced either, preventative medicine had to be done covertly.You couldn’t schedule an annual medical, you had to go in for another reason and while you were there the doctor would run you through a battery of tests which would qualify as your annual medical.
With every private health care plan there was a deductible, just like your car insurance. To get your monthly premiums down to a manageable level, sometimes the deductible was upwards of $10,000.00.
If you had a heart surgery that was $250,000.00, a $10,000.00 deductible was reasonable. If you had a pre-existing disease such as diabetes, your premiums could be as high as $900.00 a month, or you could be denied insurance completely.
If the company you work for is paying a high monthly premium for you, how can you retire? If you don’t have enough insurance, you may have to mortgage your house again to pay for an expensive procedure. Many have had to do just that.
Dr. Day said that people who can pay for private procedures will jump the queue and that will free up space in the public system, but will the doctors stay in the public system when there is more money to be made in the private system? When doctors leave the public system won’t that make the public queue longer?
If Dr. Day is successful in his court case and the current BC medical system is restructured into the hands of private insurers, we will still have to wait for medical procedures. Some of us will die waiting, the same way it is today. All that is going to change is who gets control of the money.
I’m sorry to say it, but that is the bottom line. The “care issue” is a smoke screen to gain control of the money. Private health companys will bill both the government and the individual. Double billing right now is illegal, but will it be if the laws change?
The court case is supposed to last 24 weeks, March or April of 2017, then the judiciary will have to make a decision. How long will that take? It could be this time next year before we get any conclusive results. Let us hope and pray that the powers that be make the right decision and our health care remains intact.
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