Health care's last stand

When it came to income trusts, the Liberals avoided dealing with a legislative loophole for ages, then ended up with such widespread use of that loophole that they claimed it would be impossible to fix it.

Now, the exact same process is taking place with respect to health care:

One of the pioneers of private medicine in Canada said yesterday he plans to open a for-profit surgical hospital in Ontario by 2007 and called the spread of such private health care a necessary and "unstoppable" force.

The announcement by Dr. Brian Day of Vancouver's Cambie Surgical Centre comes after all four major party leaders have spoken out against allowing a parallel tier of private health care. Dr. Day's plan also appeared to set the stage for a lively political and legal battle in Ontario, where the Liberal government has said it is deeply committed to protecting the medicare system from private incursions.

The response of each federal leader to Day and other announced private clinics should put to rest any doubt as to who's interested in protecting public delivery of health care. Harper has already indicated that he not only wouldn't shut Day down, but would be willing to jump the queue. And of course, PMPM precipitated the election by refusing to do anything to prevent Day and his ilk from expanding their presence.

The article notes that at the very least, Dalton McGuinty plans to fight Day's clinic as best he can. And unlike PMPM and company, he's backed that position up with legislation to prevent private service delivery. But without a federal government willing to ensure that the Canada Health Act is actually applied across the country, there'll be little chance of showing Day that credit card health care is neither desirable nor unstoppable.