Health Care "The Third Way" starring Klein, McGuinty, Campbell

No matter whether you are Conservative or Liberal(NDP), left wing or right wing, there is one fact we must all agree is a solid fact. Just as sure as H2 and O make water when it comes to being efficient and effective the private sector will always beat the public sector simply based on cost and time always and forever in every case without exception.

So I pay attention and believe him when I see Premier Campbell, the Liberal head honcho in BC, say, "The thing we all know is that the health care system is not sustainable the way it is over the next 25 years. It is going to have to change." Premier Klein says, "The health system must change to survive." Since the next 25 years are my last 25 years, I pay attention. Another 500,000 senior immigrants and there might not be room for me.

When it comes to health care the Doctor is sometimes left out of the picture. What with all the money going to administrators (BCGEU), Nurses (BCNU), janitors, restaurant workers(CUPE) and various other CUPE workers, it is the Doctors who seldom get mentioned. They study and work hard to be where they are.

I have often wondered what if Doctors behaved like Teachers or Nurses and went on strike as opposed to being professional and following their oath. Well yesterday in BC it was revealed that some BC doctors are sending an annual bill to some patients to cover what the Medical services plan does not pay for like phone calls, sending out letters; things that take time but for which cannot be billed. These annual bills are $$140.00 for single people and $$200.00 for family's.

Of course everyone in BC pays an annual bill for about $$$500.00 to get your MSA card. But I noticed in Sweden there is no annual card payment but there is a user payment of $$$20.00 per visit to a max of $$$130.00 This was brought to light by Premier Campbell's tour of four European Nations; Sweden, Norway, France and the United Kingdom. So the consumer pays less and and the system gets used more efficiently as the "pain in the neck" person doesn't abuse the system cause it costs him 20$.

I know from personal experience that if the service is free people abuse it. If you have ever had anything to do with a divorce where one spouse is on Legal Aid you know there will be legal games played that would not be played if the party were paying for the service. Since the service is free, so are the games.

Meanwhile thinking of the Liberals federally I noticed that Federal LIBERAL Keith Martin announced today that he is proposing a public/private hospital and a publicly funded day-care center on the Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base. He said, "There isn't enough money to pay for what we want." Further more he said he proposes a plan to build publicly funded primary health care clinics at 10 military bases across Canada which he will introduce as a private members motion. I guess he is trying to make up for that negative ad approved for the Liberals by that goofball leader that Emerson left.

Meanwhile, like in Abbotsford, Vancouver Island will get a private MRI facility. CML HEALTH Care Imaging that provides service diagnostic testing for a fee. The company opened a clinic in early January to do such. Vancouver Island being the worlds greatest collection of people into alternatives, is only fitting to have such a facility in NDP territory.

But you gotta love Klein who carrys an honest baseball bat and is so honest you can feel the bat hit you. The former PM Martin sees a Dr Sheldon Elman who runs a private clinic in Quebec and works in the public system. What's goose for the francophones is beaver for the Albertans. That approach by Dr. Elman in Quebec is Klein's "third option" where he proposes paying for choice and access while protecting the public system and permitting a doctor to work in both. That is probably the smart thing to do constitutionally speaking if one thinks of the Doctors protected charters rights.

Kleins approach is one which asks, "who can do it cheaper and quicker". The way to achieve that, one might say, is to have an abundance of graduating doctors; an over supply of trained Doctors. But in all reality he is feigning a swing and quite frankly taking a page out of the union play book. Prime ministers Harper will obviously stand up for the Canada Health Act. Klein will get 9 out of 10