tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8038865.post-1118805470839372502005-06-14T22:17:00.000-05:002005-06-14T22:17:50.916-05:00<blockquote> <br />The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Quebec law banning private medical insurance in a decision that represents an acute blow to the publicly financed national health care system. <br />… <br />The Canadian health care system provides free doctor's services that are paid for by taxes. The system has generally been strongly supported by the public, and is broadly identified with the Canadian national character. Canada is the only industrialized county that outlaws privately financed purchases of core medical services. <br />But in recent years patients have been forced to wait longer for diagnostic tests and elective surgery, while the wealthy and well connected either sought care in the United States or used influence to jump medical lines. <br /></blockquote> <br />(<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/international/americas/10canada.html?pagewanted=print">NY Times</a>) <br /> <br /><blockquote> <br />Although the unanimous ruling applies only to Quebec, it is sure to bring similar cases in other Canadian provinces and give impetus to a growing movement pushing for public and private care. <br />Government leaders rushed to defend the current system, and Medicare supporters voiced fears the ruling will bring a two-tiered system favoring those with money and possibly hurting care for the poor. Proponents of change say it will improve care by offering more choices and cut waiting times for treatment. <br />The Supreme Court said Quebec's prohibition violated the province's charter of rights by threatening the lives of patients, and the justices noted other countries have successfully combined private and public care. <br />"The evidence in this case shows that delays in the public health-care system are widespread, and that, in some serious cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote. <br />"The evidence also demonstrates that the prohibition against private health insurance and its consequence of denying people vital health care result in physical and psychological suffering ... ." <br /></blockquote> <br />(<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/canada_medicare_ruling&printer=1">Yahoo! News</a>) <br />Thanks to the NY Times for nailing this story properly. <br /> <br />Canada's Prime Minister, Paul Martin, uses an illegal private "clinic" for his own medical needs. Such actions are very illegal, but Canadian officials have taken little action against such clinics, because rich and powerful Canadians intend to use them. Despite Paul Martin's preaching against a two-tier system, Canada already has such a system; the dying, and the lawbreaking. <br /> <br />Now, the lawbreaking, at least in Quebec, don't have to sneak into their clinics. Alberta will probably follow suit soon, along with some of the other less-insane-liberal provinces. And, those pesky Canadians can no longer brag about the oh-so-glorious medicare system which they pretend to love. On the downside, the US economy may wince, because thousands of Canadians have come to the US to use our healthcare system without having to wait 20 or more weeks. Chris Edwardsnoreply@blogger.com