PROFIT® is not the cure

Dear friend,

Canada’s health care system is under threat.

First, from private investors, many based in the United States, who are clamouring to cash in on Canadian health care.

Second, by for-profit providers and insurers within Canada who are trying to dismantle public health care for their own personal gain.

And third, from provincial governments actively undermining the Canada Health Act by courting the private sector into taking a greater role in health care funding and delivery.

Instead of renewing its support for public health care, the federal Conservative government is letting the forces of privatization dismantle our most treasured social program.

Unless ordinary Canadians from every part of the country rise up to defend it, our public health care system will not survive this onslaught from the for-profit sector.

It’s time to stand up for public health care and let our government know that profit is not the cure!

PROFIT IS MORE EXPENSIVE

The U.S. government spends nearly twice as much per person on health care as we do and still over 40 million people have no health care whatsoever. In contrast, Canada’s universal single-payer system covers everyone for much less money.

Health cost data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that our public health system costs less than $180 per month per Canadian. You would have to pay a private insurer three times that in the U.S. to get comparable service.

PROFIT DISCRIMINATES

Promoters of for-profit health care say it should be okay for people to pay thousands of dollars at a private clinic if they need a hip replacement, knee surgery, or other treatment. But what about the people who can’t afford to pay?

What about seniors, single parents, or those dealing with chronic disease? Letting the rich pay to get faster health care in the private sector contravenes the principles of the Canada Health Act by threatening the equality of access to medical services. All Canadians should have equal access to quality health care.

PROFIT WILL NOT REDUCE WAIT TIMES

For-profit “solutions” will not reduce wait times. Yet they are continually proposed in British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper supporting Quebec’s plan to use private for-profit clinics.

Allowing provinces to fund surgeries in private for-profit clinics will take much-needed money away from public hospitals and give it to private providers. Studies have shown that adding for-profit health care services actually lengthens waiting times in the public system because doctors opt to perform services in the private sector where they are paid more.

PROFIT PUTS LIVES AT RISK

“With for-profit care, you end up paying with your money, and your life,” concluded Dr. P.J. Devereaux in a comparative study of death rates in the Canadian and U.S. health care systems. The study, which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, suggests that if we switch to for-profit hospitals, over 2,000 more Canadians will die needlessly each year.

The culprit is profit. When private health providers have to pay huge salaries to senior administrators and keep investors happy, they cut costs by hiring less qualified doctors and fewer nurses. The consequences are lethal.

PROFIT LEADS TO AMERICANIZATION

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is very clear – the exemption for health care, which has kept large U.S. health corporations out of Canada, applies only to a fully public system.

Once we privatize even some health care services, NAFTA will force Canada to give equal treatment to U.S. companies competing for patients with our public system. That means the argument that Canada could copy models in Sweden, France or Switzerland is a complete fallacy because unlike Canada, these European countries aren’t tied to the U.S. by a free trade agreement.

SAY NO TO PROFIT!

You can help us stand up for public health care by demanding the federal government work with the provinces to stop the expansion and reduce the role of for-profit health care in Canada's health care system.

Click here and sign our petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. You’ll find everything you need to know about the threats to for-profit health care from our site.

You can also click on “Support our Campaign” to donate to Profit is Not the Cure.

JOIN THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS

The strength of the Council is in its membership. The Council does not accept funding from corporations or from governments, so membership donations are vital to our activities. We work with community groups, seniors, students, unions and other organizations across the country to promote progressive policies on public health care, fair trade, clean water and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.

To find out more about the Council of Canadians, and to become a member, visit our website at www.canadians.org, or call us toll free at 1-800-387-7177.