The Supremes

The release this past week of the ruling by the Supreme Court on the Health Care issue has Ottawa and many of the provincial capitals buzzing. Politicians were either in denial or in blame-pointing mode. Paul Martin did his annoying “What Me Worry?” impression once more; associate Prime Minister Layton said we told you so – let’s pass the budget; Peter McKay, speaking from the heart, said the Liberals have been promising change forever and the health care system is still in a shambles. Gilles Duceppe pointed out that this was just another reason for Quebec to separate so they would not have to rely on Federal funding for a Provincial responsibility.

Roy Romanov just shook his head and started to sing Diana Ross and the Supremes’ old song, “I’m Still Waiting” – the theme song of the many people waiting for surgery and care in the ailing health care system. Just as MotorTown (Detroit) was suffering through a decay at the core back when Ross was singing, so now are our legislative capitals (MoreTowns). Finally a man in Quebec had waited long enough and the Supreme Court agreed – if the public health care system cannot deliver service in a reasonable time, people (in Quebec) should have the option of getting health care outside the public system.

In British Columbia, where they are already using private clinics to supplement the public system, they were saying I told you it would come to this. The Minister of Health, himself from B.C, has been threatening to send letters of reprimand to the two western provinces warning them that their funding is in jeopardy if they continue down what he sees as a two-tier system. He chants that old MoTown classic, “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” to keep Ottawa from spanking Campbell and Klein if they continue to find solutions to long waiting lines for health care.

At Queen’s Park, Dalton was immediately on TV singing that Ontarians should not worry since “Your Heart Belongs to Me” and that he was doing everything he could to shorten wait lines at our hospitals. All he needs is a little more money from Ottawa. Or from GE Capital or some other rich private lender to build new hospitals – like the one in North Bay that is still on the waiting list - not unlike a patient waiting for a hip replacement. The question that ought to be raised in all this kafuffle is “Where Did All Our Money Go?” The general malaise in our health care system goes right back to the senior politicians.

Will throwing more money at the health system improve service and shorten wait lines? It depends on where that money goes. If the money is siphoned off into administrative services, it may do little to shorten the wait times. The hospital bureaucrats may be better paid, but will the wards and beds they removed to make more office space get you through to a surgeon any sooner? Can these same bureaucrats manage to put bricks and mortar together in an efficient and effective manner to provide a beautiful edifice that gives better and faster health care? We have a good local example of that fiasco in Sudbury. It is no wonder the system needs more money.

In North Bay, one local politician urged the Dalton Gang to give quick approval for the new Regional Health Centre because it would be the biggest economic generator in the history of the city. Maybe that is part of the problem. Are we looking at a hospital as an economic generator instead of a place to help people who are ill? Are we paying premium prices for everything from the initial building blocks to the equipment, pills, bandages and meals right up to the administrator’s salary? And why not? The money just keeps flowing in from Toronto and Ottawa. The trouble is it’s our money, our taxes.

Is that why the private sector says they can provide better or equal health care at lower prices? And if they can, why do we not want that health care? Do we care if the health care system pays the $15,000 for a knee replacement to a local hospital board or to a private clinic, just so long as we can get the new knee in a matter of weeks instead of in the current 18 months in northern Ontario? Is it a matter of economy or ideology? Do we really care if our ideal universal health care coverage is provided by public or private institutions?

Do we have a right to better health care than we have been getting? The Supreme Court seems to think so, quoting something called the Charter of Rights, saying that it is cruel and unusual punishment to make people limp around in pain during their final years because they can not get a new knee or hip for months and months. When you have heart troubles the feeling that your bypass surgery has become elective does you no good.

We Canadians have had a long love affair with our publicly-funded health care system. We used to compare it with the American system, saying how much better we looked after everyone. But lately, some of us are falling out of love with the system. We have slipped down to 30th place in the world when it comes to health care and it is time for change. France, who is now in 1st place, uses a mixture of private and public health care systems. While our politicians are singing MoreTown hits like “Stop! In the Name of Love!”, the public are looking for faster solutions than another series of commissions and hearings.

Of course, if we are really concerned about fixing the health care system we have to start looking after our own health. We need to educate ourselves on the high costs of addictions; the consequences of a lack of physical exercise; the high price of not having a proper diet. We need to know when to run to the emergency room and when we can look after ourselves. We also need to tell our politicians to get off their butts and do something about our health care system instead of crying wolf over two-tier systems. There are other ways to deliver universal health care than the mode we are stuck in.

Thanks to the Supremes, we may have just been booted in the butt to get things moving on health care.