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Health care spending is not out of control.
As a percentage of the provincial economy, health care spending has shrunk from 5.7% for 1994-5 (before Harris) to 5.3% in 2000-1. It has also shrunk as a proportion of provincial revenues from 38.2% in 1994-5 to 35.1% in 2000-1 despite massive tax cuts. As a percentage of operating expenditures it has increased slightly from 35% in 1997-8 to 37.4% in 2000-1 (Ministry of Finance data).
The "crisis" is not real.
The Ontario government has changed the base on which percentages are calculated to make it look as though there is a crisis. The figures above show the real picture. The so-called "crisis" is really an attack on medicare by cost-cutting governments and by corporations who see vast profits to be made from privatization.
We are being told that private health care is more efficient. It is not.
The U.S. health system has the highest level of private health care administration of any industrialized country. It costs more than double Canada's system per person, serves only a fraction of the population and delivers worse health outcomes. In a private clinic in Alberta, knee surgeries cost more than four times the cost in public facilities and waiting lists for cataract surgery are longest in centres with the highest proportion of private clinics.
Why should we be concerned?
Unless there is a massive public, outcry, our health care system will be whittled away by user fees, private clinics, and limits on coverage. This will be presented as an unfortunate necessity to "save" medicare from collapse. It is not necessary. There is no funding crisis. (Please note the excerpt from Amani Oakley's submission to the Romanow Commission.) But there are reviews of health care taking place, such as the Romanow Commission. We must act strongly and immediately to tell our gov
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