Right in the centre - Myth busting

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Published on Thursday, August 24, 2017

Ken Waddell
The Nepawa Banner

So the Town of Niverville has stepped up and is willing to put together a package to build an MRI clinic, along with other diagnostic services. It will be privately financed and after 25 years, the facility and equipment are to be turned over to the town.

Manitoba Health minister Kelvin Goertzen, says he is impressed with the innovation, but won’t commit to funding patients through that clinic yet, as he has not seen their full plan. Fair enough. The plan needs to be well thought out, but even if the province doesn’t spend Manitoba Health dollars at the proposed Niverville clinic, it still should be allowed to go ahead.

There are many reasons. The biggest reason is need. People are going out of province now, out of country as well, to get diagnostic services. If they want to pay the price in other provinces or other countries, they should be allowed to do so. To not be allowed to do so is oppressive. The demand is there and it is better to keep the medical tourism dollars at home in this province.

Private MRI clinics have been operating for years in Alberta and for a shorter amount of time in Saskatchewan. Why not here?
The reason it hasn’t happened here is the NDP, for 17 years squashed every attempt at private clinics. The NDP said private clinics would divert technicians away from the publicly funded system, which is absolute nonsense. The NDP said it was in contravention of the Canada Health Act which is worse than nonsense, it’s a lie. If it’s not against the Canada Health Act in Saskatchewan and Alberta, how can it be in contravention of the Canada Health Act here in Manitoba?

And speaking of the Canada Health Act, the federal government used to fund health care 50/50. That is to say 50 per cent of health care was provided by the federal government and 50 per cent by the province. Now, federal funding is down to 19 per cent and dropping. At what point should the province tell the feds to go fly a kite with their rules. Come on, 50 per cent down to 19 per cent and still calling the shots.

The federal government is screwing over the provinces, abdicating what they claim is a sacred trust, namely, publicly funded health care. Health care, by the way, now devours 40 per cent of the province’s budget each year.
So if the feds don’t want to fund 50 per cent and only want to fund 19 per cent or less, then do they really have the right to make the rules? The rules, remarkably, are not applied equally across the provinces.

Then there is another myth and that is that all health care is publicly funded. No it’s not. Eye care is mostly private, chiropractic care is mostly private, massage therapy is mostly private, as is physiotherapy. Drugs are mostly private and then add in all the “alternative” medicine. Publicly funded heath care is a mythical monster and it’s time to pin the tail on this donkey. Open up the options for private funding and let demand, money and innovation flourish.

We have been under the socialist myth-making shadow for far too long. To the people of Niverville I say “Bravo” and get the plan together. To Minister Goertzen I say, if the plan looks good, let them get at it.
Logic and commons sense are on your side.