The "4P" system private 4 profit, publicly paid 4

West Bay, Nova Scotia - Friday, December 2, 2005 - by: Dr. Phyllis Wagg

Stephen Harper announced his health care policy this morning. Conservatives claim that as long as access is guaranteed who cares who pays for health care. This is the argument that they use to promote the idea of a private, profit based, health care system publicly paid for (the 4P system) . Canadians need to realize that in the end we pay either personally or through our taxes. Various studies estimate that a profit based system adds about 20 per cent to the cost of health care. That means that a private health care system would cost 20 per cent more for the same quality as a publicly provided one. Harper claims that he will maintain "our universal public health care system" and that there will be "no private, parallel system." A 4P system meets all the parameters he has set out. There are no cost efficiencies in creating a profit based system because the main competition is for medical professionals. Competition does not automatically create cost savings or a better product. In a market where there is a shortage of employees the competition generated for workers drives up the cost. There is probably only one province at the moment that can afford the system that Harper is promoting: Alberta. By allowing a private for profit system Alberta could capture a large percentage of health care professionals and set up an American style delivery system. It could afford to pay the additional costs of such a system for its own residents. The next part of the Harper plan is to force provinces to send patients to other clinics, even outside their own provinces, if they cannot provide public treatment within the federal guidelines. This means that a province would be forced to pay for the service at the additional cost of the private clinics, the bulk of which would be where? You guessed it, in Alberta. The Harper plan is to develop a 4P health care industry in Alberta. At the same time it would help destroy the public pay system in the poorer provinces since taxpayers could not afford to compete for staff with the Alberta system nor afford to meet federal guidelines. This policy is an excellent example of how the neo-conservative mind works. It tries to find a means to convince the public to accept something that is not in their self-interest. Will voters be convinced?

Phyllis Wagg PH.D. History

References :

CTV news staff Health care a key issue on campaign day four, December 2, 2005, CTV News

CBC news Harper promises shorter, guaranteed waits for health care, December 2, 2005, CBC News

Photo credit : base image by CBC

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