Once again the Alberta government is restructuring our healthcare delivery system. Their feast or famine approach to budgeting the provincial coffers continues to leave mayhem in their wake. By the time our healthcare system adjusts to the new corporate structure, the circumstances of the economy will have changed and so will their spending habits. This is why our healthcare system will never be as efficient or effective as it could be.The US debate over healthcare reform has caused me to ponder. If you consider that the US public expenditure on healthcare is much higher per capita than most developed countries that have universal healthcare (Americans pay more in taxes devoted to medical care - not including insurance premiums, co-payments, fees, and other health care costs), it becomes disconcerting that the number of Americans that have zero healthcare coverage is fifty million - almost double the entire population of Canada.
What about the quality of healthcare? The arguments about timely access and current technologies seem to be invalid in light of the value the United States is getting for their healthcare expenditures. The US is one of the lowest ranked developed countries on measures of life expectancy, infant mortality, and reductions in amenable mortality (deaths from certain causes that should not occur in the presence of timely and effective healthcare).
So why is everyone so worked up about healthcare reform? I understand that a big part of this debate is that many are playing to the socialism paranoia response. But in light of all the public money that has been sunk into bailing out so many corporations and all the US government incentives rolled out to help people purchase cars and homes, I would expect a somewhat more tolerant palate toward the prospect of universal healthcare.
“The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare for all.” - Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)
1 comment:
It's disappointing that one of the richest provinces in Canada is cutting funding to health care yet again. Also the closing of 246 beds, instead of the 150 beds originally, at Alberta Hospital, one of the largest mental health facility in the province. The police asked government the question, where are the patients going to go when they are realest into society? How long will it be before they forget or stop taking the meds that keep them on an even plane?
The debate in the US over health care reform bamboozles me. Like you say, the bailouts to corporations is public money. But I think what it boils down to is that it's the corporations that fund the politicians at election time, not the common citizen, and therefore have bought a guarantee that their "corporate health" is cared for. It's unfortunate that public money isn't going to the health of the public. After all it's the public taxes that pay their wages.
In both Canada and the US, how much does government spent on the war in Iran or Afghanistan? How much do they spent on corporate bailouts? But, how much do they spent on ending poverty and helping the people of their own country? How much is spent on the welfare of children?
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