Renowned heart surgeon backs private health care
Ottawa Citizen
May 8, 2002
By Mohammed Adam
Renowned heart surgeon Dr. Wilbert Keon says the time has come for Canadians to embrace private health care as they search for new ways to improve what's clearly a broken system.
Dr. Keon, director general of the world-famous Ottawa Heart Institute said Canadians should rid themselves of their fear of private health care because it is not a threat to their well-being.
Indeed, with rising costs and an aging population, the threat to the future of health care comes from not considering the private option, he told the Citizen's editorial board.
Dr. Keon and Senator Michael Kirby were speaking to the board about the work of the Senate committee studying the future of medicare in Canada. A preliminary report released recently said medicare is unsustainable and should be reformed.
Dr. Keon estimates restructuring will cost about $15 billion over a number of years, but it has to be done.
He said it doesn't matter who delivers health care as long as it is delivered cheaply and patients get good care.
"If somebody can run a clinic or run an imaging centre and make a profit and still deliver better service cheaper than the big institutions, there's nothing wrong with them making a profit," he said.
"I think it could be very interesting if we had a Shouldice clinic in every city who can do hernias twice as quick and twice as slick at half the price of the big public hospitals."
Shouldice is a private hospital near Toronto that specializes in hernia treatment and Dr. Keon said one area that could benefit from the Shouldice approach is orthopedics. He said already there are small clinics that treat people who suffer workplace hip, knee or back injuries and there is no reason why that cannot be extended to the larger population.
He acknowledged that talk of private hospitals "does frighten the daylight" out of Canadians because all they can envision is people who want to "get rich on the backs of patients." That's why any move towards private health care should be carefully regulated to make sure there are no abuses. But in the end, there is no choice but to embrace private health care.
Mr. Kirby, who chairs the Senate committee, said there is a belief that the Canada Health Act prohibits private hospitals, but it's a myth.
"We haven't had them because that's now how the system has evolved. I think our view will be if they started to evolve that way it wouldn't matter ... We believe in a publicly funded system but we don't care if it is privately delivered ... Frankly we don't care who owns the institutions. The issue is quality service as efficiently as possible. The issue is not who owns it."
In addition to the Senate committee, former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow as well as numerous provincial panels are studying health care reform.
Renowned heart surgeon backs private health care
Ottawa Citizen
May 8, 2002
By Mohammed Adam
Renowned heart surgeon Dr. Wilbert Keon says the time has come for Canadians to embrace private health care as they search for new ways to improve what's clearly a broken system.
Dr. Keon, director general of the world-famous Ottawa Heart Institute said Canadians should rid themselves of their fear of private health care because it is not a threat to their well-being.
Indeed, with rising costs and an aging population, the threat to the future of health care comes from not considering the private option, he told the Citizen's editorial board.
Dr. Keon and Senator Michael Kirby were speaking to the board about the work of the Senate committee studying the future of medicare in Canada. A preliminary report released recently said medicare is unsustainable and should be reformed.
Dr. Keon estimates restructuring will cost about $15 billion over a number of years, but it has to be done.
He said it doesn't matter who delivers health care as long as it is delivered cheaply and patients get good care.
"If somebody can run a clinic or run an imaging centre and make a profit and still deliver better service cheaper than the big institutions, there's nothing wrong with them making a profit," he said.
"I think it could be very interesting if we had a Shouldice clinic in every city who can do hernias twice as quick and twice as slick at half the price of the big public hospitals."
Shouldice is a private hospital near Toronto that specializes in hernia treatment and Dr. Keon said one area that could benefit from the Shouldice approach is orthopedics. He said already there are small clinics that treat people who suffer workplace hip, knee or back injuries and there is no reason why that cannot be extended to the larger population.
He acknowledged that talk of private hospitals "does frighten the daylight" out of Canadians because all they can envision is people who want to "get rich on the backs of patients." That's why any move towards private health care should be carefully regulated to make sure there are no abuses. But in the end, there is no choice but to embrace private health care.
Mr. Kirby, who chairs the Senate committee, said there is a belief that the Canada Health Act prohibits private hospitals, but it's a myth.
"We haven't had them because that's now how the system has evolved. I think our view will be if they started to evolve that way it wouldn't matter ... We believe in a publicly funded system but we don't care if it is privately delivered ... Frankly we don't care who owns the institutions. The issue is quality service as efficiently as possible. The issue is not who owns it."
In addition to the Senate committee, former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow as well as numerous provincial panels are studying health care reform.