^{Posted on April 11, 2002}

Canadians want universal care

Two letters, published in The Toronto Star, responding to Tony Fell's call to open the Canadian health care system to private-sector funds:

Apr 10, 2002

Re Medicare rule changes urged, April 9.

For the chairman of the largest publicly funded hospital in Canada, Tony Fell of the University Health Network, to be championing private health care shows how profoundly out of touch he is with most Ontarians and how ignorant he is about the basics of health-care economics.

In poll after poll, Canadians have told whoever asks that they do not want two-tier health care.

Instead of worrying about his golfing friends waiting for hip or knee surgery, maybe Fell should talk to the nurses who work in the network's hospitals. They will tell him that two-tier health care and a more privatized system will only worsen the problems he acknowledged, such as the nursing shortage.

Increased and stable funding from our governments and a reorganization of health-care services with a focus on community health services is the place to start to address the system's problems.

If the nurses don't convince Fell, who is also chairman of RBC Capital Markets, perhaps he should lunch on the links with another banking leader, Charles Baillie, chair and CEO of TD Bank. Baillie warned in 1999 that: "To set aside our single-payer, publicly funded universal health-care system would not simply be a moral error. It would be a grave economic error as well."

Doris Grinspun

Executive Director Registered Nurses Association of Ontario Toronto

April 11, 2002

Believe U.S., Canadians, you don't want private care

Re Medicare rule changes urged, April 9.

It is astonishing that the University Health Network's chairman, Tony Fell, is calling for opening the Canadian health-care system to private-sector funds. He must be blind to what is happening in the United States.

Private plans are increasing cost-sharing with beneficiaries. This is a nice way of saying that the plans are passing risk on to the very beneficiaries that need health care the most. Not only are 40 million uninsured Americans having problems accessing care, but now average-income individuals who have serious acute and chronic disorders are facing financial barriers to care. This behaviour of the private health plans is only to be expected, since corporate regulators insist that the interests of shareholders must be placed first.

And this week a new report from the American College of Emergency Physicians reveals that 90 per cent of large U.S. hospitals operate at or over capacity, with overloading of our emergency rooms and frequent diversion of ambulances.

This year the U.S. is spending $1.55 trillion (U.S.) on health care, 14.7 per cent of our GDP, far more than any other nation, and yet we are receiving the worst value for our health-care dollars. The reason is that our fragmented system of private plans, government plans and no plans at all creates unbelievable administrative excesses that waste resources that should be going to care.

This week, the California Health and Human Services Agency completed a study of nine different models of reform. The single-payer models, similar to Canada's system, would provide full, comprehensive services for absolutely everyone and reduce health-care costs for California by $7 billion. Those models that build on our current private and public system failed to deliver on the goals of universality and comprehensiveness and would increase costs for Californians.

Canadians can be very proud of their publicly funded system. We hope that the California study will enlighten our political leaders in the United States as to the wisdom of your approach.

Dr. Don McCanne

President Physicians for a National Health Program Chicago, Ill.