01) MEDICARE SUPPORTERS BREATHE SIGH OF RELIEF

PV Vancouver Bureau

            Supporters of Canada’s universal Medicare system were relieved in mid-June when Dr. Alan Ruddiman was elected as the new president of Doctors of B.C. (formerly the BC Medical Association). Ruddiman won a run-off election against Dr. Brian Day, who supports expanding privately funded healthcare, by a 3,065 to 2462 vote margin, or 55.5% to 44.5%.

            Day, an orthopedic surgeon and founder of the for-profit Cambie Surgery Centre, was originally elected president by a one-vote margin, until a recount determined that one ballot had not been counted, making the result a tie.

            The initial count had sent shock waves, seeming to indicate that BC doctors backed Day’s longstanding campaign to replace the single-payer system for compensating doctors, by adding a second “two-tier” parallel private system.

            On his campaign website, Day boasted that he has campaigned for over 20 years to “liberate both patients and doctors from policies and laws that ration access and funding.”

            Day's clinic has launched a constitutional challenge against the B.C. government over its attempt to stop his company from billing patients directly. The court case was filed after the B.C. Medical Services Commission determined in 2012 that the clinic and its related Specialist Referral Clinic were repeatedly extra billing in violation of the Medicare Protection Act. A partial audit at the time found that Day’s clinics had unlawfully billed patients $491,654 over a single month period. The clinics were ordered to stop breaking the law, but refused. The court case has been delayed at least twice while Day attempts to negotiate some kind of settlement with the province, possibly indicating that his chances of success in the courts are doubtful.

            Day claims that for-profit health care will make hospital wait-lists shorter, but international evidence shows that increasing for-profit care has no impact on public wait times.

            Pro-Medicare groups point out that while wait times for some elective surgeries do need to be addressed, there is considerable evidence showing that, in some cities and provinces, innovations in the public system are shortening wait times in ways that benefit everyone. Adding a second private tier would not solve these challenges, they argue; in fact, this would mean longer wait times, poorer health, and runaway health care costs for Canadians. The fundamental flaw in Day’s argument is the invalid assumption that Canada has an over-supply of trained medical personnel; in fact, establishing a full parallel private system would tend to attract large numbers of doctors, leaving most of the population facing longer wait times for access to a smaller pool of specialist physicians and other health professionals.

            Medicare supporters also point out that for-profit care is no guarantee of a better health outcome. Research has shown that the total time spent recovering from an injury is often shorter in the public system.

            The BC Health Coalition warns that adopted a US-style health system would put enormous new cost burdens onto most Canadians. In the United States, the cost of insurance for an average family of four is $16,000 per year, and most bankruptcies are caused by high medical bills.

(The above article is from the July 1-31, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)