Wow what a short honeymoon. Harper is still only a designated hitter, err PM, has no cabinet yet isn't sworn in and already King Ralph of Alberta has come out swinging. It gives new meaning to the Battle of Alberta. Calgary Premier against Calgary PM.
EDMONTON - The Alberta government is considering legislation that would no longer recognize the supremacy of the Canada Health Act, would allow doctors to practice medicine concurrently in the private and public systems and could open the door to for-profit hospitals operated by foreign corporations, the Edmonton Journal has learned.
The new Alberta Health Care Assurance Act, which Premier Ralph Klein insists will be tabled in the legislature this spring, replaces three existing laws, including the once-controversial Health Care Protection Act, known widely as Bill 11.
Some members of the government are worried Mr. Klein is deliberately testing the limits of the federal government, and that he will cause a rift between Alberta and the newly elected Conservative government.
In a worst-case scenario, Ottawa could cut some of the $2-billion in health transfers it sends to Alberta for public health services.
Blogging Tory Dissonance and Disrespect chortles with glee (what did you expect with a blog title like that) that Harper is between a rock and a hard place. He is hopeful of course that Harper will allow Klein to dismantle medicare in Alberta, which he and other rightwingers call a public monopoly. I would rather have a public system (it's far from a monopoly there are hospitals, and health clinics as well as specialist services covered by medicare) than a private one any day.
The creation of the private utility monopolies/oligopolies with electrical deregulation in Alberta has meant increasing costs to consumers.Something we will look forward to if Klein gets his way with privatizing health care.
Specialists will move out of public hospitals to create competing services in the private sector. Which will not reduce wait times. Wait times main barrier to specialized care: study
A clear example is the abundance of private laser surgery eye clinics in Alberta. Ironically laser eye surgery was first developed in the Soviet Union, to reduce cataract operation wait times.
On the other hand the rational Blogging Tory Political Staples is worried about the Klein challenge to Harper and well he should be, it will be the first real crisis the new PM faces.
Klein likes to talk about how much money Alberta spends on healthcare, which is just behind Newfoundland in per person spending. But our healthcare still costs less than the privatized system south of the border costs each person! And as the Conference Board report on health care issued today says;
the findings demonstrate that "money is not the panacea in providing better health care. Spending larger sums of money does not necessarily translate into high performance. It is how the money is spent rather than how much, that appears to make the difference."
Also see:
Showdown at the OK Corral
Klein My Way Healthcare Reform
Klein Dares Harper
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Canada
Alberta
Politics
Ralph Klein
Harper
Health Care
medicare
Privatization
Conservatives
Brison getting calls to lead - Calgary Sun - 30 Jan 2006
