Dr. Keith Martin, the Liberal MP, is continuing his campaign to encourage a realistic debate over health care reform (as opposed to just talking about it, which is the preferred option in Ottawa and 10 out of 10 provinces).
His suggestion last month that Canadians should have the right to pay for health care outside the system if they wished had his own party doing backflips to separate themselves from his dangerous ideas. “That is absolutely not a solution to any of the problems that we’re facing today,” said Ujjal Dosanjh, a charter member of the Status Quo club. Liberal policy is to acknowledge that something really needs to be done, while refusing to address any serious alternatives.
But Martin isn’t backing down. Today he expanded his view with a list of criteria for repairing the system:
Health Care Reform Do’s and Don’ts by Keith Martin, M.P., M.D.
Don’t:
• Allow people to pay to jump ahead of the queue in the public system
• Allow people to divert taxes to private services. Everyone will pay taxes and ALL will have access to the public system. This is akin to our education system that has private and public schools. People who pay tuition for their children to attend private schools still pay taxes that pay for public schools.
Do:Most of the reforms I agree with. It's a start. I say kudos to him for going against the status quo although it could get him into a heap of trouble with the party but oh, well. Remember, it's taboo for any politician anywhere in this country to talk about health care reform. At least he's taking the initiative for to start talking about something that needs to be talked about. Reforming our increasingly failing unsustainable health care system. As the National Post states:
• Look at 17 of the 20 top health care systems that are all in Europe. All provide for better access to quality care when people fall ill at a lower cost (Canada ranks 22nd in the world, the US is 26th).
• Allow people to pay for health care services in completely separate private clinics. ONLY private monies would pay for these clinics and services.
• Enforce common standards for public and private health services.
• Develop a medical manpower strategy.
• Allow physicians to provide essential services in the private sector if they spend a minimum of 50% of their time working for the public system.
• Allow hospitals to be paid on the basis of patient services rendered as opposed to receiving block funding alone.
• Implement a National Head Start Program for Children. This is a powerful preventative program.
• Implement E-technologies to improve the flow of medical information e.g. E-Health records.
That ought to really bug the Liberal leadership. Here’s a guy who won’t just shut up and let them ignore the health care issue. Better drag out Ujjal again.Yup, better fetch Ujjal! Can't have one of your members going rogue now. I hope he doesn't shut up. I hope he keeps it up! At least, it just might get an adult conversation started which is well overdue.
To Keith Martin, don't allow your party to muzzle you, you keep speaking out!
Related: Here is a very sensible column in the Globe and Mail by Andre Picard on health care reform. It's well worth the read.
First and foremost, we need to throw off the shackles of the Canada Health Act, a well-meaning law that has become an impediment to reform. Amen!
Have the champions of universal healthcare, the NDP, been silent on this?
ReplyDeleteI can't find a word from the Dippers attacking Keith Martin's 2 tier medicine.
strange eh
Great entertainment, as we watch the latest loose cannon on the Liberal ship, doing more political damage.
ReplyDeleteAct II of this ocean-going drama should see Jack enter, stage left, as he demagogues against this Liberal attack on the health care sacred cow, that was given birth by Dippers in Saskatchewan, yadda yadda.
Is there a provincial premier out there, say the new guy in Nova Scotia, who can stir the pot some more ? Kind of like how Klein did in the final weeks of the 2004 federal election campaign, serving up easy talking points for Paul Martin "defender of Health Care", against that "evil" Harper.
I've never forgiven Ralph or his PCs for that calculated "blunder" of his.
I can't find a word from the Dippers attacking Keith Martin's 2 tier medicine.
ReplyDeletestrange eh
Now that you mention it,wilson, it IS strange indeed! Also where are the CBC,CTV,the Globe,and the Star? Shouldn't they be all out in full force denouncing this terrible perposal? Can't touch that sacred cow now, can we?
You wanna make a bet, that if this were one of the CPC MPs,you'd hear from all the usual suspects screaming bloody murder! Go figure!
I've never forgiven Ralph or his PCs for that calculated "blunder" of his.
ReplyDeleteYeah,me too,CJ. I had lost respect for Ralph after that! I did like him before. It brought out the so called "hidden agenda" which has always been bogus.
o/t
ReplyDeletebreaking
'A Canadian is among five workers who were kidnapped by gunmen in speedboats from an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria’s troubled southern delta on Monday.'
As Ezra says, the debate is about Ethical Oil.
Blood in the oil vs carbon foot print
'A Canadian is among five workers who were kidnapped by gunmen in speedboats from an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria’s troubled southern delta on Monday.'
ReplyDeleteOh,my goodness! I pray that all five workers will be released shortly and all be safe.
Governments can only recognize rights, they can't conjure them up. We already have the right to use our own money to pay for our own health, the government simply doesn't recognize this basic right. Dosanjh is a tyrant and a bully. He would prefer to force people to suffer rather than recognize that an individual's health belongs to the individual, not the State, and that his money is his property to be spent as he sees fit, not as the the State sees fit.
ReplyDelete