op-ed column on private health care ‘laughable’

silly it’s laughable. The author makes a spirited argument in favour of allowing private medical insurance so that the wealthy could buy faster access, thereby taking pressure off of the public system--or so the story goes. The author goes on to breathlessly inform us that, “currently, only four provinces allow such plans to exist: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.” Okay, so if the theory has any merit, then those provinces must have the shortest wait times, correct?

Well, not quite. According to the Fraser Institute, it seems that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are second and third in Canada for longest wait times at 58.2 and 43.3 weeks respect- ively. Newfoundland and Saskatchewan are doing marginally better at 32.1 and 30.1, but they are all getting thoroughly trounced by the Province of Ontario, which boasts the shortest wait times in Canada at just 20.3 weeks.

Common sense and logic would seem to suggest that the salvation of our healthcare system does not lie in adopting the policies of jurisdictions delivering poorer outcomes than we’re already experiencing.

Andy Braid