|
News Release
Private
health facilities for the well-off
violate the principles of the Canada Health Act
December 13, 1994
Letter to the Editor
The Globe and Mail
The Globe, commenting on Health Minister Diane Marleau's
declared intention to enforce the Canada Health Act in Alberta,
questions whether private clinics constitute a violation of the
Act (December 2).
The clinics charge a "facility fee" which buys quicker
care for procedures such as cataract surgery or magnetic resonance
imaging scanning than patients receive in public institutions. Quicker
care is better care and no amount of wrangling about legal niceties
can obscure the fact that private health facilities for the well-off
violate the principles of the Canada Health Act.
The Globe defends private clinics because they relieve pressure
on scarce public resources. That is exactly the problem. Events
in the United States tell us that the poor do not have the political
force to maintain accessibility and quality in a public system directed
at their needs. If we put aside the Canada Health Act and allow
the middle class to buy better care privately, the deterioration
of public health care will follow quickly.
As long as public health care is the only health care, and the
privileged have no where else to shop, health care has a chance
of withstanding the current budget-cutting mania. We must maintain
the pressure for high-quality, prompt public health care.
Finally, the Globe suggests that clinics may be a more efficient
way than hospitals to deliver some aspects of care. Quite right,
and we should explore this option. However, the exploration and
implementation must be done within a comprehensive national health
care system that maintains the principle of universal access.
Sincerely,
Gordon Guyatt, M.D.
Murray Enkin, M.D.
Medical Reform Group of Ontario
Subject Headings: Abortion
Rights – Community
Health – Community
Health Centres – Drug
Substitution – Epidemiology
– Epidemiology/Community
Medicine – Health
Administration – Health
Care Budgets – Health
Care Cost Containment – Health
Care Costs – Health
Care Delivery – Health
Care Finance & Fund-Raising – Health
Care in Canada – Health
Care in Ontario – Health
Care in the U.K. – Health
Care in the U.S. – Health
Care Myths – Health
Care Reform – Health
Care Resources – Health
Care Services – Health
Care Workers – Health
Clinics – Health
Determinants – Health
Economics – Health
Expenditures – Health
Issues – Health
Policy – Health
Policy/Seniors – Health
Service Organizations – Health/Social
Justice Issues – Health
Statistics – Health/Strategic
Planning – History
– Hospitals
– Labour
Medicine – Medical
Associations – Medical
Costs/Foreign – Medical
Education – Medical
Ethics – Medical
Human Resources – Medical
Personnel – Medical
Research Funding – Medicare
– Medication
Use – Medication
Use/Seniors – NAFTA/Health
– Occupational
Health & Safety – Patients'
Rights – Pharmaceuticals
– Physician
Compensation – Physician
Human Resources – Pro-Choice
Issues – Public
Health – Publications/Health
– Social
Policy – Women's
Health
Click
here to view our Sources Listing
Main
News Release page - The
Sources Calendar -
Search Sources Listings
-
Parliamentary Names & Numbers
How
to Post Your Press Releases
Sources
home page
Search the Sources directory to find
experts and spokespersons
|