If People Can’t Access Healthcare, How Can You Call The System ‘Universal’?

The system is broken, and living in a world of illusion won’t fix it.

Another day, another story about how the socialist healthcare system is in a state of collapse.

In South Surrey, BC, a woman who lives 10 minutes from the hospital ended up waiting over 11 hours for an ambulance to arrive:

“Jaqui Joys, 72, tripped on her tile floor Aug. 6, fell and smashed her head. She didn’t know yet that she had also broken a hip but she knew she couldn’t move, at least not enough to get in a car.

“I think I was just in shock. Fortunately, I had a telephone that I could reach on the counter, so I was able to call 911.”

She called the emergency line sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. and then rang her son, who helped her move to a more comfortable chair to wait.

By this time, she said there was searing pain down her leg, so her son called 911 again to find out why the ambulance was taking so long. They were told paramedics were on the way, but it wasn’t until 10 hours later that an ambulance arrived.”

In July, a 91-year-old Montreal woman died waiting for an ambulance that took 7 hours to arrive. That same month, a 65-year-old man died waiting for an ambulance that took 11 hours to arrive.

In August, a man in his 80’s in Ashcroft, BC died waiting for an ambulance. The same thing happened to a woman in the same community in July.

And we aren’t even talking about the disastrous situation in many emergency rooms and the overall declining quality of service across the country.

Universally inaccessible

At this point, about the only thing ‘universal’ about our healthcare system is that it’s becoming universally inaccessible for Canadians.

Imagine for a moment how boosters of the Canadian system would respond to the same thing happening in the US.

They would be talking about how the ‘for profit’ system is letting people die waiting for ambulances and care.

But because it’s happening in Canada’s socialized system, there is little talk about it.

Yet, so many remain stuck in an illusory world where they pretend the socialized system still works.

It doesn’t.

It’s broken.

And pouring more money into the same system simply won’t work.

More private healthcare is needed

There is no way around this.

None.

Canada needs more private healthcare.

And it would seem that many people agree:

“63% of Ontarians like the idea of the government hiring private clinics to perform surgeries to reduce wait times.

Only 20% opposed.

Our Leger poll results can be found here –”

It’s good to see more people waking up to reality.

Universal access – real access – can only be preserved if there is more private delivery.

The private sector brings the incentives and innovation that is necessary for the system to improve.

The countries with the most successful healthcare systems manage to match up more private delivery with universal access. In many cases, people can go to a private hospital, get treatment, and then they present their health card to the private institution which bills the government, not the patient.

Canada’s healthcare system will end up like that, and that moment is approaching more rapidly as people realize how unsustainable the current system is.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – YouTube

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