Who profits from PROFIT®?
Corporations profit from the privatization of health care. Big time. The World Bank estimates that global health expenditures exceed $4 trillion every year. The most promising source of future profits for health-care services corporations are lucrative programs like Canada’s, which are still being delivered on a not-for-profit basis.
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.
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