A strong debut

While the CMA continues to insist on health-care privatization, the newly-formed Canadian Doctors for Medicare points out just how far off base the CMA is:

(W)e face challenges similar to those in many, if not all, developed countries, whatever their mix of public and private health care. Most of these countries are struggling to ensure that their citizens have better access to primary and preventative care (including a family doctor), and to improve wait times for diagnostic tests and treatment.

Vocal advocates of privatization use these challenges to advance their views that private insurance will somehow make things better. That couldn't be further from the truth...

Health care is expensive, and it's going to get more expensive. But if we follow the private insurance road, we'll end up losing the efficiencies that make our single-tier system more cost effective than the two-tiered alternative, not to mention the higher quality and accessibility of our single-tier model.

It remains to be seen whether the new group will be able to cultivate as high a public profile in the debate as CMA has received. But if nothing else, it's a boost to all Canadians who want to see a universally-accessible system to know that a movement of doctors shares their view. And if the CDM is able to help sway the debate, then maybe we can get past the "gridlock" of perpetual talk of privatization in order to shift the discussion to policies which actually help the health-care system.