By Dominick Lucyk
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When the Bolsheviks ruled the Soviet Union, everyday Russians would line up for hours a day just to get some bread. Others, understandably, would skip the lines altogether; realizing the shelves might be empty by the time they got into the store, they would seek another way to fill their belly.
Sadly, Canada’s health-care system shares some shocking parallels with bread lines under one of history’s worst regimes.
A new SecondStreet.org poll sheds yet more light on the decaying state of Canada’s government monopoly in health care.
The poll, conducted by Leger, shows many Canadians are opting out of getting the health care they deserve. Almost half the respondents said they’ve avoided going to the doctor or a hospital because they don’t think they’ll get care promptly.
That’s right. In a wealthy country, rich with natural resources and intelligent, industrious people, half of the population simply doesn’t want to deal with the excessive wait times in a hospital.
That’s bad enough if all you have is a broken arm (it’ll fix itself… right?), but what if it’s a strange pain in your chest or stomach that later turns out to be cancer or a serious heart problem?
Well, discouraged from seeking immediate care in hospital, you’re now treated to the pleasure of waiting months or years for potentially life-saving treatment.
Wait, wait, wait… and hope you get care before it’s too late. Just like the poor citizens under Lenin, Stalin and Kruschev! While those sick of the bread lines could sometimes find food on the black market, or get away with growing their own vegetables, the options for modern Canadians to receive important health care are even more limited.
Except for Quebec, waiting is the primary option; travel is one of the only others.
The Leger poll also sheds light on this second option. Roughly one in 10 Canadians said they have travelled out of province for private health care. This isn’t just an escape route for the ultra-wealthy — about 9% of respondents with an income under $60,000 still said they have left their province for care.
Of course, it’s more difficult for low- or medium-income Canadians to afford travelling for care — but when your mobility, an escape from chronic pain or even your life are on the line, people make it work.
Canadian governments could, of course, make travelling for care more accessible.
That’s another one of the points covered in this poll. In the European Union, patients have the right to travel to another EU country, pay for surgery and then be reimbursed by their home country up to what it would have cost to perform the surgery locally.
This isn’t a perfect solution, but it immediately gives patients access to faster options. And Canadians are on board — the poll shows more than 70% like this policy.
Finally, Canada could, in the spirit of those final Soviet leaders who tore down the wall, realize that a stifling government monopoly simply doesn’t work. Down with bread lines and down with banning patient choice. Canada could keep its universal health-care system, but allow patients to pay for care — an option supported by 61% of Canadians.
It’s clear. Canadians are fed up with living under a backwards health-care system that forces them to wait with no options within their own province. They want health reform now. Sticking with a broken system will only lead to more pain, suffering and death.
Dominick Lucyk is the communications director with SecondStreet.org, a Canadian think tank