The State of Health Care and a Conservative Government

In the news lately has been the story of a private clinic being run in Vancouver that charges an initial enrollment fee and an ongoing annual fee. The BC minister of health after knowing about this clinic for over a year finally said publicly that it was violating the Canadian Health Act, only after the Ontario government threatened the same clinic with legal action if it were to expand into Ontario.

This is much like the Liberal government of BC to let it slide up until now. Since this minister has come out openly against the clinic they have now restructured their fees so that the $1,200 initiation fee is merged into the ongoing yearly fee of $2,300. Seeing that the Liberals are on par politically with the current Federal Conservative party of Canada, what does this mean for the future of health care in Canada?

I see the Health Care in Canada going the way a womans right to choose is in the US. That is in the US they will never overturn the landmark case of Row vs Wade, however what they will do is continually lesson the effects of the case. What this means is in the US while it is still legal to have an abortion, the criteria for a person to do so is a lot stricter, and will continue to move in that direction. Under a conservative government you will see a similar thing happen to the Canadian Health Act, except that instead of getting stricter you will see a loosing of the Act.

The Conservatives could never simply abolish the Canadian Health Act, much the same way the Republicans could never overrule the Row vs Wade case, doing so would be political suicide. What they will do instead is become even more lax on upholding the act, and strive to find more loopholes that private clinics can take advantage of, and in doing so riddling the act useless. This is a slow process, but as you can see over time it takes effect. 10-20 years ago to even speak of a private clinic in Canada was unheard of, now they are popping everywhere. So the real question that is in front of us, is will someone finally stand up for health care in Canada? Or will we continue to see the degradation of a once magnificent social system.