Turn Your Head and Cough (up some money!)

Do these guys need to have their heads examined?

I've decided. Access to private health care for some 'non-emergency' health care is wrong! It's a slippery slope that Canadians must not engage in.

The issue: Hospital wait times. Canadians are waiting far too long for non-emergency surgeries, such as for knees, hips and cataracts.

The Solution? Recently, the Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, announced that his government would allow access to private health care, at the government's expense, if a patient has to wait longer than six months for their surgery. Ralph Klein, Mr. Charest's counterpart in Alberta (is it me, or does Ralph look like the puppet alien from the TV series Alf?), is also allowing for private health care to stand beside the public system for non-emergency care.

There is no doubt that hospital wait times in Canada are far too long. They exacerbate the suffering people must endure when they seek medical help. Having observed the system, it certainly has changed over the years, but wait times? Not for the better. What is the problem? What has gotten the system into this mess?

People often cite lack of funding. Or could it be doctor's aren't paid sufficiently for their services? Many doctors have headed south for greener pastures because provincial health care plans have capped their fees in order to control spiralling costs. Could it be that the population is expanding and growing older, but the medical training system has failed to keep pace with the growth? Should Canada actively recruit and fast track to citizenship, immigrant doctors for the specialties that are needed? How do we know how to tackle the problem, if we don't know what the problem(s) truly is/are?

Adding a parallel private system is not the answer. It treats the symptoms, not the cause. It just applies a band-aid to an open gash. What we need to do is sew up that gash. Instead, that band-aid will transform into gauze packing, then a tensor bandage, and on to a cast. But of course, that will only happen if you can afford to pay for the cast. Those that can't, will bleed to death waiting.

Consider this analogy. Your house is on fire and the fire department arrives on the scene to put it out. They have three hoses trying to douse the flames with water. Your neighbour comes over to the firemen and tells them that their roof is getting hot and that they will pay them $100 to take one of the hoses to keep the roof cool. He accepts. Now there are only two hoses on your fire. Your other neighbour does the same. Now only one. Then the two neighbours get into a bidding war over the last fireman...whoops, get out the garden hose. But the water pressure is down...get a bucket brigade going...ran out of water, start throwing sand...no more sand, start spitting on those 30 foot flames! The end result? Your neighbours who could it afford it, saved their homes. You? Owner of a pile of ashes.

No, health care shouldn't go to the highest bidder for non-emergency surgeries such as hip and knee replacements, because that could lead to paying for organs, blood transfusions and other life saving medical treatments. If there are only so many surgeries that can be accomplished because of the number of knees and hips that are available, or operating room time, who do you think they will go to? The patient that relies on a capped fee from the Provincial system, or someone that's willing to pay a few thousand dollars more for faster service? The waiting lists for the government system will get longer, and people that cannot afford private health care will suffer longer. Don't believe me? Look at the American system of private health care and HMOs. Many people do not even have the benefit of an HMO, bad as it is.

Should we just throw billions at the problem? Probably not. But I do propose a good start. Let's do something that businesses do. General Electric was very successful with their Six Sigma program. An improvement program that identified deficiencies and corrected them, saving GE billions of dollars over the years, becoming part of the company's success. Why can't this be applied to the health care system? Who better to fix the problem than the health care professionals themselves? Train them in Six Sigma. Local hospitals will have their own Six Sigma teams. As well, provincial and federal levels will have teams tackling issues at their levels. All of this can be lead at the federal level so provincial activities can be coordinated. Best of all, a database of knowledge can be held so that all health care professionals across the country could benefit from the results. Each hospital won't have to reinvent the wheel. This way, the health care wound will get sewn up. Sound like a plan?

Every Canadian wants better health care, especially as the Baby Boomers age. Should one get better health care than anyone else because they have more money in the bank? No. That's not the Canadian way, eh? The health of people does not discriminate because of financial ability, why should the health care system?

Wings Over The World