Editor: MLA Cam Westhead says that when it comes to health care, “there are no second-class citizens in our province.” (Candidate insists UCP supports publicly funded healthcare, March 7).
He would like us to believe that we’re all first-class citizens, but the facts suggest some folks are “more first-class” than others.
In 2016, I faced a year-long wait for surgery on my shoulder. Consequently I spent nearly $10,000 to receive treatment at a private facility in Toronto.
Mr. Westhead thinks this makes me rich, but really I was desperate. My family went into debt to pay for my medical care.
No one reasonably believes that Rachel Notley (or any politician) would spend a miserable year in pain and out of work waiting for surgery – government business is too essential.
So we might say the political class is “more first-class.” Other favoured groups include RCMP officers, members of the armed forces, federal prisoners, injured workers and athletes, who are all legally jumping the queue.
So there are in fact multiple tiers in our “universal” health care system, and it is disingenuous of Mr. Westhead to suggest otherwise.
Canada is one of the few places in the world to outlaw private medical insurance. (Even North Korea and Cuba have relaxed such restrictions).
Last year there were 64,000 Canadians who travelled abroad for medical care.
Mr. Westhead might dismiss them as rich people in fur coats, but are they not people in need? Are they all, numbering in the tens of thousands, unworthy of Mr. Westhead’s sympathy?
We live in a country where a dog can get a hip replacement in under a week but a human being without the right connections will languish on a wait list for a year or more.
So please, Mr. Westhead, spare me your theatrics that it was “shameful” for UCP candidate Miranda Rosin to suggest an alternative to our broken system.
It seems to me that exploring the delivery models enjoyed by the rest of the developed world is not only the progressive thing to do – it is a compassionate recognition of a serious problem with your beloved Canadian health care.
Socialized medicine may be working for you; it didn’t work for me.
Michelle Eve,
Exshaw
