Medicare is Communist

So our healthcare system which allows for private mediclinics, public hospitals, specialists with direct billing and all that is paid for by a single payer system is now called communist.

Equal access health care slammed

'Fine for people living in communist countries' - fee-based service proponent

Equal access to health care is fine for communists but not Canadians, said a Calgary company pushing round-the-clock, fee-based medical services to those who can afford it.

Stephanie Ross, business manager for the Centre for Preventative Medicine said patients are demanding better service and are willing to pay for it.

"People are tired of waiting," Ross said, adding standard access to health care for everyone is "fine for people living in communist countries. But that's not the country we live in."

Yeah how dare poor people and working people demand the right to the same healthcare as the rich. Damned socialist idea.

Gee I didn't know that Canada was communist. So comrades rally round the red flag in defense of publicly funded healthcare. Cause dem anti-Bolsheviks will be making there stand for freedom in Calgary.

Have you noticed how Calgary is the home of all these right wing types who flourish this kind of red baiting rhetoric around. I know it sells papers like the Sun and the Western Standard, and makes for nifty press releases from the NCC and Fraser Institute, but it's as outdated a model T.

But it cheers the cockles of the hearts of the Party of Calgary (PC) and of course that other party of Calgary under Stephen Harper who now rule's in Ottawa. Even if it is patently ridiculous.

So here we have it, the Alberta Advantage for the advantaged, first-class access to the public system, the beginning of Ralph's Third Way if Ralph had any idea of what the Third Way means.

Those working in this scheme, known by the most stylish handles of concierge medicine and retainer-based health care, admit there are no cost savings to the public purse and no reduction of wait times since the doctors on duty work out of a private clinic.

No matter. The people with an extra $5,400 sure see the benefit. They will be the ones escaping the consequences of the provincial Tory government's decade-long mess up of the medical system. All other unfortunates can take a number at the walk-in clinic and queue up for the chance to be shuffled off after seven minutes with the M.D

"This is what waits for us in the shadows," says Brian Mason, the NDP leader who has been riding herd on this file and doesn't get enough credit for being the top performing MLA on the Opposition benches.

Mason points out Calgary is perfect for the Third Way since there is a market of people with big oilpatch bonuses who will try and bully everyone else into believing this is good for all of us. And Calgary is the city where the health-care system was screwed up the worst because the public played passive. Wealth of ideas

Also see:

• Illegal Private Hospital In Calgary
• Private Healthcare Monopoly
• Naughty Naughty

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