The Globe and Mail has a columnist, Gary Mason, by name, who seems in the habit of doing whatever he can, even if he has to wrap himself around a telephone pole, to defend the, er, rights of the wealthy and privileged over the poor and disadvantaged. In his latest screed he writes about that valiant little British surgeon fighting bravely against Canada's dreadful socialized medical system in defense of private health care. This is of course so that patients with money can jump the line and get whatever surgery or treatment they are needing without having to wait their turn while one of the Great Unwashed gets treatment ahead of them. This has gone to the Supreme Court and I think it's expected that our single payer system, that dreaded socialized medicine, is going to win. Of course Gary Mason, who should be famous for cherry picking his facts, if he isn't already, has neglected to mention that low income Canadians would be the ones to suffer.
There is no guarantee that introducing a two tiered health system will reduce wait times for everyone, the poor included, as there is also the likelihood of more and more doctors going over to private health care (one would think that those sons and daughters of privilege would have long ago paid off their student loans already, or maybe they're just greedy) where they stand to make a lot more money.
Of course, Gary Mason as always shows his disdain for the poor by forgetting to mention that people on low incomes will still have to wait in line and will not be allowed the privilege of private health care access for one simple reason: the private system is run on greed and if you haven't the money then you are going to be shit-out-of-luck, Hippocratic Oath be damned.
Only if the private health system accepts patients of all incomes levels with full government subsidies for those unable to pay for services would this sort of idea be acceptable. I so far have heard nothing about this brave little British surgeon expressing interest in the idea.
For those of you who have already written off our single payer system as being hopelessly inept and ready for the dust heap let me share my own experience with our Government funded health care. Over a year ago I became very ill, weak, almost unable to walk, and with double vision. I called an ambulance. I lay in emergency at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. I had to wait for a few hours and was often asleep, but I was attended to, and put through some tests. They decided to hold me for the next week. I was attended by no less than six physicians and specialists and such nurses whose dedication, compassion and professionalism made my stay a lot easier. There was only one bad nurse, who alarmed my bed without informing me in order to prevent me from getting up unassisted to use the bathroom. She didn't want me to fall and sue the hospital. I let her have it, refused to work with her after this and from then on it went well. I was put through a full battery of tests and check-ups. They diagnosed an imbalance between my pituitary and thyroid, made sure I didn't have to pay through the nose for medications and discharged me after six days. In one short week I went from being bed-bound the first day, using a walker the second day, a cane the fourth day, to enjoying a longer than five mile walk unassisted the day after my discharge. I have since been in the care of an endocrinologist and the wonderful physicians of my community health care clinic and I am feeling more than one hundred percent recovered, though I am still of course under observation. All this through our single payer system, on the tax-payers' dime.
I am a low-wage earner myself and would never be able to afford private health care. With the quality of care I am receiving it is absolutely beyond me that some people would have an issue with it. This doesn't mean that our system can't be improved and that services couldn't be delivered in a more timely manner and I really think that we can have it both ways.
As for the brave little British surgeon (Gary Mason's description of him, not mine) whose short stature of 5 feet, four inches appears to be worth mentioning by the Globe and Mail's loyal scribe, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one day he hauls off and punches him in the knee.
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