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Roy Romanow’s landmark report on the future of health care in Canada calls for a national drug strategy, home care, increased accountability and some $15 billion in new funds over the next three years.
Most of all, he says, Canada’s health-care system must always remain publicly funded. Romanow said Canadians have told him clearly they will not accept any dilution of Canada’s health care principles.
“Not now, not ever,” Romanow said. “Canadians view medicare as a moral enterprise, not a business venture.“
2 comments on “Romanow says medicare ‘moral enterprise, not business venture’”
True, and I am glad there are no current plans to ‘hack and slash’ health care in Canada.
But, truth be told, the medical care industry IS a business. I really wish more people would open their eyes to that fact. Doctors, techs, nurses, etc need to be paid, equipment costs money, and probably most importantly of all, there needs to be a *reason* for someone to open a clinic. There will always be sick people, but when your overhead is costing you more than your doctors are bringing in every month, due to the screwy health care system in this country, there is a problem.
If we put the money into health care, where in the budget is it going to come from? Social programs? Military spending? Tax cuts? Do we raise taxes instead to be able to afford this increased spending in health care? Or, do we charge a userfee to people wanting to use private clinics and/or the hospitals? Will it be enough to keep doctors in this country, considering most are underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated?
Just some food for thought. 😉
I don’t believe health care should be approached as a business. Like any government-controlled part of our society it can not rely strictly on profit as a business would. It’s top priority must always be service to the people.
Of course, attracting employees is important, there’s no doubt about that, and surely an extra 15 billion will not hurt that.
The article said that funding for this increase will come from budget surplus so there would be no cuts or tax increases unless there is a substantial economic downturn(which looks a but unlikely due to the good job at insulating Canada from the global recession that has been done thus far).
However, I would accept a raise in taxes in order to ensure that my parents and the rest of the aging population have a good quality of life.