Dr. Danielle Martin has practically catalogued the various attacks on Canada’s Medicare system over the last two decades. The Chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare says that while the arguments continually “shift,” the prescription from the right is always the same – two tier health care and privatization is the answer no matter the question.
She says this shift is part of an ongoing attack that has never resonated with Canadian values, but shows signs of making inroads with Canadian politicians.
At first it was the argument that the rich should have the right to use their money how they see fit and buy their way to the front of the line. Clearly Canadians saw the unfairness and lack of equity in that argument. Then the privateers argued the public system was broken, until the 2004 federal-provincial accord brought down wait times across Canada. Then the story became an aging population would break the bank, until health care economists noted aging only accounted for less than one per cent of health care cost increases, well within the normal capacity of economic growth. Now the latest argument is that health care is unsustainable and about to consume provincial budgets.
Martin tells a story that many progressive health care advocates have been using recently. A family of four sends a child away to university in another province. The remaining child is told they are no longer sustainable as a result. The parents argue that the child used to eat one-fourth of the family food. With the other child gone, now they are consuming one-third of the dinners. When someone argues health care is taking money away from other services, this is essentially what they are arguing. Health care is not unsustainable – tax cuts are.
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