The challenges in our healthcare system to provide timely access to primary practitioners and specialized treatments have brought the question of what degree of public and private delivery of services will best address these needs.
The improvement in access to health care and the reduction of wait time for treatment and procedures will require increased funding that will raise the per capita cost of care for Canadians. Dr. Katharine Smart, president of the Canadian Medical Association, says, on the surface, it might seem privatization would increase capacity and take weight off the public system, but “that's not really what happens.”
“What starts to happen, of course, is differential access to care,” Smart said in an interview Thursday. “So people with more resources have more access, shorter wait times, and people who don’t, do not. “
Smart says, if Canadians want equity in accessing the health-care system, it needs more resources and investments to make it “successful.” (Rushdie, 2022)
Dr. Adam Hofmann, co-founder of Algomed, says he's a strong advocate for public health care but Canada's strained system can't meet the needs of citizens.
"What public health care does badly is adapt to the times. It doesn't innovate. It cannot innovate. It is too big a battleship to turn around," said Hofmann.(Affan & Donaldson, 2022)
Alexandra Rose, the The Nova Scotia Health Coalition's provincial coordinator, says while private care might provide a temporary solution, it makes the shortfalls in Canada's public health care system even worse.
"Every time a private clinic opens, doctors leave the public sector, doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners. That's less staff working in the public sector, which is only going to exacerbate the extreme staffing crisis that we're already facing," Rose said.
Rose says the responsibility to solve systemic issues lands on the shoulders of the government. She says she's worried private care will dissuade the government from finding long-term solutions on their own. (Affan & Donaldson, 2022)
The urgent need for improved access to health services has generated interest in the possibility that a different public/private mixture may be better for our citizens.
References
Affan, E., & Donaldson, J. (2022, August 13). Owner of private medical clinic says it will ease burden on N.S. health-care system. CBC. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/private-ns-medical-clinic-says-ease-health-care-system-1.6549725
Rushdie, S. (2022, August 12). Privatizing health care would cause inequity: CMA president. CTV News Atlantic. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/privatizing-health-care-results-in-worse-access-for-less-fortunate-cma-president-1.6025038
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