OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a letter regarding public and private health care, published Jan. 18.
In a word, nonsense.
I have to disagree with your letter to the editor about private health care not costing taxpayers more money. And here is why. First of all, you ‘cherry pick’ certain loaded words in order to bolster your argument, such as ‘steal.’ Of course, no one is being stolen from the public health-care system (against their will). However, you immediately acknowledge that, “If they offer more, it’s up to the individual to accept the job.” The net result will be fewer health-care staff in the public sector.
Your reason for supporting this is shocking, though not surprising: “… it will compete with the public sector … which makes the public sector pick up their game to stay in business.”
Arguments that we have heard, time and time again, from the People’s Party of Canada, but soundly rejected by voters at election time. The truth of the matter is doctors, nurses, and all health-care workers are vastly overworked, understaffed, underappreciated, and underpaid, in no small part due the Bill 124 — and (Premier Doug) Ford’s refusal to accept the court’s decision that it is unconstitutional.
Another truth is that health-care workers are doing everything they can to “pick up their game.” But, instead of properly funding them, your solution is to throw them an anchor instead of a life preserver. Apparently, you have no qualms about those with “more money” jumping the queue, either. By your logic this will “free up those times that would otherwise be booked in the public system.” What good are those times without the staff to provide the services?
And, if your final point about Sweden “having both public and private health care” is meant to allay our concerns, I urge you to cherry pick less and dig a little deeper. An excellent starting point is Anna Sharudenko’s ‘10 Facts About Healthcare in Sweden.’
All this being said, I do appreciate your attempt to prove that Ford’s privatization of our health-care system is a good idea. The vast majority of Simcoe North’s voters on that end of the political spectrum continue to remain silent. And, whether or not they want to admit it, increased privatization of our health-care system will not benefit Ontarians — other than those with the money to pay for it or those working in private clinics.
John Winchester
Orillia
