I Figured Out How to Save Healthcare -- The Ralph Klein Way!
In case you didn't read the title of this post, I figured out how to save healthcare -- the Ralph Klein way! That ol' wacky (former now I guess) premier of Alberta introduced two-tier healthcare a few years back because he realized that his dad would have to wait a ridiculous amount of time for hip surgery. Funny how you realize there's a problem when things become personal!
Anyway, now there are semi-private clinics etc. But I don't think that's the answer. See, Klein had the answer staring him right in the wallet: money. The root of all the healthcare woes. Not enough money to pay enough people to operate enough equipment and suddenly you end up with a six year waiting list for kidney transplants. Klein figures if you have enough money, there should be avenues available to you to just pay and jump the line. And I actually think that's a great idea. But it has to be done this way: Every person that you jump in front of, you have to pay for their operation. Or at least a sizeable percentage. This way the rich bastard gets his hip first, the poor bastards don't need to shell out more money, and the healthcare system gets an injection of more funds. EVERYBODY WINS!
Except probably the rich people. For some reason they don't mind spending money, unless it's on a stranger in need of healthcare assistance.
posted by Kris at 1:34 PM
2 Comments:
Kris
There is a larger problem in Alberta (and in Canada in general) and that is the lack of doctors and health care workers. About 12 years ago when I was in high school "King Ralph" massively cut the funding for education and health care. Only now are workers beginning to make again what they made then. Thousands of jobs were lost to put money into the oil fields and now that there is money again it is not necessarily going into supporting the social systems that Alberta once had. There are simply not enough doctors for the number of people (it took my mom over a year to get a doctor becuase her prevoious one retired early)and if two tiered was implemented than there would may ONLY be enough doctors and nurses for the rich.
Sorry to ramble.
D
You make good points, and it is definitely true that the lack of people to run the infrastructure is probably the biggest concern. I should clarify my tongue-in-cheek post a little better; I'm not actually advocating a two-tier system. I'd like to see a single system, but where the rich people are paying into it more to get their 'preferential' treatment. The extra money that they are injecting into the system so they can jump the line will help bring in the extra doctors, thereby decreasing the lines and increasing the quality. Upper income people tend to get squeamish if such schemes are introduced via 'taxation', so this would be a way for them to remain feeling pompous, while actually helping out those in need.
Post a Comment
<< Home