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Reality Check
"It does not matter who delivers health care,
it matters that everyone can receive it."
-- Stephen Harper (May 10, 2004)
Reality Check: For-profit health care facilities ...
a) have higher death rates than not-for-profit facilities (1,2,3);
b) cost more (4);
c) provide lower quality services(5);
d) engage in schemes to cheat taxpayers (6,7,8);
e) compromise access to public services (9); and
f) provide less nursing care than not-for-profit nursing homes (10).
Don't trust a politician who says it doesn't
matter who delivers your health care!
References:
(1) Devereaux, P.J., et al, "A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing mortality rates
of private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals", Canadian Medical Association Journal,
May 28, 2002; Vol. 166, No. 11
(2) Thomas, E., et al, "Hospital Ownership and Preventable Adverse Events", Journal of General
Internal Medicine, April, 2000
(3) Devereaux, P.J., et al, "Comparison of Mortality Between Private For-Profit and
Private Not-For-Profit Hemodialysis Centrers,"
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), November 20, 2002; Vol. 288, No. 19
(4) Woolhandler, S. et al, "When Money is the Mission - The High Cost of Investor-Owned Care",
New England Journal of Medicine, August 5, 1999, Vol. 341, No. 6
(5) Schneider, E. et al, “Quality of care in for-profit and not-for-profit health plans enrolling Medicare
beneficiaries,” The American Journal of Medicine, vol. 118 no. 12, December 2005
(6) Eichenwald, K., "Hospital Chain Cheated U.S. On Expenses, Documents Show",
New York Times, December 18, 1997
(7) Steward, G., "Public Bodies, Private Parts: Surgical Contracts and Conflict of Interest at the
Calgary Regional Health Authority", Parkland Institute/University of Alberta, March 5, 2001
(8) British Medical Journal (May 15, 2004), "NHS overcharged for private surgery"
(9) Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, "Myth: A parallel private system would reduce
waiting times in the public system", 2001
(10) Harrington, C., "Does Investor Ownership of Nursing Homes Compromise the Quality of Care",
American Journal of Public Health (September 2001).
Public funds are for patients, not profits!