Paul Kahnert warns that Doug Ford's plan to move surgeries to private clinics is a new chapter in an old story:
A successful heist requires careful planning and timing. Privatizing healthcare has been planned for years by the Conservatives.
It was once unthinkable that our non-profit public power hydro system would be turned into a for-profit system. Now the theft of our beloved healthcare system is going on right before our eyes.
Ford is following the exact same script to privatize healthcare as Mike Harris did when Harris claimed public power was bankrupt. While endlessly promising “lower rates” and that “nothing will go wrong” Harris’s hydro deregulation changed every non -profit hydro commission in Ontario into a for -profit corporation. Every ratepayer knows how those promises worked out. Ford is again promising that his for-profit private surgery clinics won’t cost you anything out of pocket. This is completely false. With profit as the main concern, private owners will add in a long list of additional fees not covered by OHIP.
Just how are private owners going to staff their clinics with doctors and nurses? There is only one way, pay a premium to lure them away from the public system and then charge more so they can make a profit off of them. Unfortunately, Ford will likely pay some doctor turncoats to do ads praising his plan.
The story is called Disaster Capitalism. It is premised on taking advantage of a crisis. If there isn't a crisis, you have to create one. Mike Harris's former education minister -- who dropped out of high school in grade 11 -- suggested that was the way to reform education in Ontario.
We have a crisis in healthcare. But it's been a long time coming:
The Conservatives are largely to blame for this crisis that they created with under funding and funding cuts to pay for tax cuts. When you think about it, this should be illegal. It is important to note that the tax cuts and cuts to healthcare made by the Harris Conservatives in the 1990’s resulted in the loss of over 10,000 nurses. It was a loss the healthcare system never recovered from.
Before we go there, we should look at the record:
Since 1980, the wealthiest people and their corporations have successfully lobbied Governments for massive tax cuts in the multiple billions.
What we really need to do to fix our healthcare system is to reverse tax cuts. (Reversing tax cuts on the wealthy and their corporations is not raising taxes, it is restoring funding to build and pay for a civil society.)
We need a healthcare deal. But after the federal government shows the premiers the money, we need to know what they intend to do with it. And what the federal government will do if the provinces cut taxes.
Image: The Rabble
15 comments:
The alarm should be raised by all over any tinkering with our healthcare. This erosion of the system needs to be thwarted at all costs by Canadians on a national scale, not just by the provinces that unfortunately have conservative governments in power. The cons after all are the real criminals here. Any Capitalist, elitist, knuckle dragging conservative who thinks that we should accept this proposal of a two tiered system as fair are in denial. As a Canadian living temporarily in The U.S., I have been very proud of the fact that I come from a country that has a very great reputation regarding "universal healthcare" and is oftentimes brought to my attention by my neighbours. I witness first hand how not having a viable healthcare for all impacts people. Just last week Senator Bernie Sanders mentioned that 500,000 bankruptcies every year in the U.S. are related to healthcare debt. It would be interesting to see the statistics on suicides relating to the same debt.
Anybody with half a brain should see this move by Ford as nothing short of a gutting of a system and is designed to enrich the private sector and their greedy profiteers. Fix the problem from a standpoint of those that can't afford healthcare not from those that can.
Precisely, zoombats. The one thing that Ford has stood for consistently is profit.
We're going to get increased privatization in healthcare because that's what the billionaires want. It's one of the last areas of government services left to be strip-mined for profit - airlines, airports, highways and hydro have been done, healthcare and education are next. The feds may offer up more money for healthcare, but there's no way Trudeau will limit privatization schemes. The Libs are into this just as much as the Con premiers, and they've all got McKinsey showing them how.
Since the '80s, McKinsey has achieved a reputation for know-how, Cap. That is most unfortunate.
Caps quite right about the billionaires desires to control all things. Ian Welsh puts it quite appropriately on his block and I quote.
"Some games are easier to squeeze than others: healthcare is a famous example as people will pay almost anything to live. There’s a reason Bill Gates is buying up all the farmland he can get, too, with environmental disaster onrushing, he knows that those who control food will (with enough political cover) also clean up",unquote.
His post is well worth the read.
When Doug was elected and became Premier, I kind of wondered "what were the people of Ontario thinking?" However he seemed to settle into the job and actually sounded rather rational when he spoke publicly compared to his actions when on Toronto city council.
However, once he got his 4 yr mandate, the real Doug stepped out from behind the curtain and we are seeing the true Ford agenda happening as we type. And he definitely has lots of time to do real damage to the province and the people who live there. There's going to be ironclad contracts (like what Greedy Gordo did here in BC) that will tie important services to all Ontario citizens - its just that Doug's very wealthy friends that won't feel the impact nearly as badly as those on the lower end of the financial pyramid.
Thanks for the tip, zoombats. The old rule still applies: When things get scarce, they get expensive.
Doug was bought and paid for long ago, Lulymay.
‘Doug Ford’s Plan’ .. whoa horsie whoa !!
Lemme get this straight..
Doug Ford - Mensa Level Schemer !
What next ? Sorry sports fans ..
but I don’t shoot, beat, buy, or eat dead horse
He’s Grade A retail level drug dealer behind Sobey’s
or Home Depot.. They have handy & clean washrooms eh !
I’m not from Missouri.. but show me anyway !
The article is interesting.. very useful too
But can we go behind the curtain ?
This is a frontman flipping BBQ burgers
& they let him have a boom box too
Lots of heat, smoke, dollar beer & loud music
& has dime bags of pot & 1/4 oz’s of ‘black hash’
that are underweight.. but ‘he’s holding’
He ain’t the Big Dog.. not even close
just the fat guy performing a script
& can barely read off a teleprompter 🦎
You've got the guy pegged, sal.
If the federal government is sending money to the provinces for health care they need to ensure that the money is used for just that and nothing else. The provinces ought to be required to provide Ottawa with yearly audits to prove they spent it on public health care, not private health care.
American medical corporations have been chomping at the bit for decades to get an in on Canada's health care. They see us as an untapped source of more profits.
Ford is trying to "give away" the green belt to developers and the health care system to corporation. Wonder what he is getting out of it?
If there is a greater need for more surgeries, then start using the operating rooms that are there. They usually are only being used 40 hours a week.
here in B.C. the high tech scanning equipment is used almost 24/7 in a lot of hospitals. People love it, because they can be seen faster, works great for shift workers and boy is it easier to park around st Pauls Hospital in downtown Vancouver.
If the people of Ontario buy imto this scheme, they will be sorry sooner than later. Just have a look at England's health care system,its falling apart.
Women should be especially careful if they think private health care will work. In the U.S.A. the number of women in rural areas and women of colour die at a much, much higher rate than rich white women for lack of proper pre natal care and post natal care and while delivering their babies. Interesting article on a woman who was killed by the doctor who was giving her an epidural in one of the major cities in the U.S.A. the US.A. also has a higher mortality rate for new borns than some second and third world countries.
If the people of Ontario allow Ford to go ahead, they will have to learn to live with it or die because of it. the other choice is to ensure he never gets his way.
Thanks for the link, TB. When profit enters the equation, people put off the healthcare they need.
You can bet, e.a.f, that, when profit enters the equation, American healthcare companies will take advantage of the situation.
From the red state of Oklahoma, what a disaster in the making, tax cuts for the rich and privatization of health care. I hope this doesn’t happen, Canada is better than that.
Let's hope we're better than that, William.
Post a Comment