Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Unless you own an insurance company...

...the Third Way isn't good for business any more than it is for Alberta's families.

Tomorrow is the Third Way's probable Waterloo. The whole world, or at least Saskatchewan is watching.

6 comments:

Richard_Cranium said...

The only reason we in Saskatchewan are intently watching, is there is not a rats a$$ chance that our socialistic NDP government would even consider any changes to our broken medicare system. We are rooting for it in Alberta, so we have a place to go to get decent, timely health care, at a cost if necessary, other than the USA.

Cliff said...

Well as opposed to changes that make it cost more and work less well, even the status quo is a better idea.

And in fact the Saskatchewan government is talking reform. Reform within the public system, which for all it's supposed faults is still the most efficiant, affordable and ethical approach to health care for a society.

I'm guessing, Richard, that any reform other than full scale sell off of the public system wouldn't please you. But as you point out the majority of your fellow citizens electing those godless socialists disagree with you. For that matter, so do the majority here in Blue Sweep Alberta.

Richard_Cranium said...

Cliff, you guess incorrectly. I advocate a dual system where those who have the capital can pay for private health care. The rich can and are already flying south of the border. Why not offer the same private care here. If 10000 rich people went to private clinics that would leave 10000 spots open for the public that would not have been there. I have already taken my mother to Edmonton for an MRI. It took 2 days notice to get her in. Her in Sask...6 weeks wait time. So you see we are already leaving the province for timely health care, so why not accommodate it here.

Cliff said...

10,000 rich people jump to the head of the line in Private clinics.

Where precisely, do the doctors treating these ten thousand rich people come from? Wat are they not doing while they are treating these que-jumpers? More specifically, what system have they abandoned for the big bucks of these private clinics?

Is it in their interests to eliminate public system wait lists when wait lists mean bigger profits for them in lucrative private clinics?

Richard_Cranium said...

Well, admittedly while we don't usually see this phenomenum here, Doctors would actually come here from other parts of the country to work in, another phenomenum here, private enterprises. Yes, that means U-hauls full when they head east past Alberta's border, to take the higher paid positions, rather than them leaving for Alberta, BC or the USA for higher paying positions. Those who can afford it already have the option of better, quicker healthcare, just not here. So the issue is not IF the rich should have access to better, quicker, health care, the issue becomes WHERE.

Cliff said...

Ideally nowhere. If the well off have to use the same system as the rest of us they have an incentive to never let it decay too much.

And the more common form of cross border doctor shopping is Americans coming here and borrowing or stealing healthcare cards to get the treatment that would have financially ruined them at home.

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