The myths of for-profit health care

The promoters of for-profit health care have been doing their best to convince people that the only way to improve Canada’s health care system is to open it to private, for-profit interests.

Myth: Those who can afford to pay for health care services should be able to.

Fact: Promoters of promote 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.

Myth: There is nothing wrong with provincial governments paying public dollars for surgeries at for-profit clinics to help reduce wait times.

Fact: Pouring money into the for-profit system will not reduce wait times. This approach has been 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. Private clinics are not accountable to the public. They are accountable only to their investors, and their goal is to make money. There are many examples of how wait times have been reduced in the public system. Programs like the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario and the Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network show how developing centralized provincial patient registries and sharing information between hospital facilities dramatically reduces waiting times for patients.

Myth: “Mixed” delivery of public and private is better.

Fact: Private clinics typically charge 10 to 15 per cent more than the public sector for procedures, in order to fund administration costs and shareholder profits. Donald Copeman, a businessman who operates a private clinic in Vancouver, charges patients thousands of dollars for quicker access to family doctors and health care services. Patients at the Copeman clinic are charged an enrolment fee of $1,200 and annual dues of $2,300. The company’s plan calls for 4,000 patients to be enrolled at each clinic, so the annual dues alone would amount to $9.2 million per facility. At the same time, these clinics draw doctors and other health care professionals away from the public system, which already faces shortages. The result? Longer wait times in the public system for those who can’t afford to pay high enrollment and annual fees.

Myth: The for-profit system can help fix wait times.

Fact: No one wants to see people or suffer or die because they are waiting for care. But the reality is that there is no accurate or clear picture of what is really happening with wait times in Canada. A recent report by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) notes that there is no centralized system to register or monitor people who are waiting for health care services. The CIHI says that all provinces need to pursue a similar method for creating and monitoring waiting time lists, to get a clear picture of where there are problems. Solutions to possible wait time problems can be found in the public sector.

Myth: Allowing people to pay for private health care services will free up public facilities.

Fact: Allowing people or governments to pay inflated prices for health care will not diminish wait times in the public system. 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. For example, in New Zealand, where doctors are allowed to work in both public and private sectors, specialists spend less than 49 per cent of their time in public hospitals. The rest is spent in for-profit clinics. Given that Canada is already facing a doctor shortage, allowing physicians and other health care professionals – whose education has been subsidized by taxpayers – to move into the for-profit system will drain much-needed resources and limit public access even further.

Myth: For-profit health care will not lead to an American-style system in Canada.

Fact: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed between Canada and the United States 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. Under NAFTA, Canada must give “national treatment” rights to U.S.-based companies to compete for health care services, if the system is opened up to for-profit interests. The argument that a new system would be based on public-private systems in Sweden, France, Switzerland or other European countries is a complete fallacy. Private is private — no matter what country the idea is coming from – and in Canada, increased privatization would leave our public health care system vulnerable to American interests because of our trade relationship with the United States.

Myth: According to a recent poll, more than 70 per cent of Canadians support a blend of private and public health care.

Fact: As with most polls, the details need closer examination. The Canadian Independent Medical Clinics Association (CIMCA) financed this particular poll, which was featured in a January 18, 2006 article in The National Post. CIMCA’s board of directors includes a lengthy list of privatization advocates including Dr. Brian Day, businessman Donald Copeman, and other for-profit health care clinic operators. More than 1,000 Canadians were canvassed for the poll within the span of one week and were asked if they would support a political party that banned “non-governmental” health care delivery, or one that would permit a “blend.” The words “private,” “for-profit” or “two-tier” were not used in the poll.

Profit is not the cure

Privatizing health care will only benefit those who can afford to pay, and will allow some doctors, business people and corporations to make money off sick and injured 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.

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Mythbusters & Evidence Boost
Publications by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation that provide research evidence to debunk Canadian health care myths and policy and services management alternatives.

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