Though imperfect, any and every well informed and thoroughly researched analysis of the Canadian Single Payer Health Care System model clearly shows it to be demonstrably superior to any system controlled by the for profit sector. So thank you for Dr. Rachlis’ article.

Do not mistake me, I am an advocate of free enterprise and profit but there are areas of the human experience that should not be in the private sector and health care is one of them. People who are well off can choose to buy an expensive car, an expensive watch, a mansion of a house, can holiday in Ibiza. And if they wish to have their surgery done in the U.S.A., that option is still available.

It makes no sense to use Canada’s doctors by jumping the queue. While it is undeniably expensive to go to Med School, the costs are shared by all tax payers because we collectively fund the Universities and thereby assist in the training of our medical personnel.

There are only so many hours in a day and only so many operating theatres and only so many specialists. If the hours and the space and the people are occupied by private care patients, personally paying patients then those who have been prioritized by need are bumped even further back in the cue. Inefficient, yes, and, quite simply, not fair. It is just another tear in the very fabric that has woven our society, our very privileged Canadian society, together.

We pay so very little in comparison to any of the privatized health care systems. And we need to ask ourselves the moral stance we wish to take: do we wait our turn, prioritized by the urgency of the need or do those who have the money pay their way to the head of the line?

Everyone is only entitled to their informed opinion but there are scaremongers doing a great job of convincing Canadians that the Canadian Health Care system is failing.

Yours truly,
Ms. Forbes, CARP Member

Keywords: healthcare, doctors