Two-Tiered Health Care
The other day I was standing in the emergency ward of the tiny Montfort hospital and was appalled at what I saw before me. Not only were the beds all full, but the beds were so full that an elderly man on a ventilator was shoveled off to some hallway, strapped like a psych ward patient to his ambulance cart. They were waiting for a bed somewhere to
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If, as you said, the brain drain to private clinics will be the same as the brain drain to other countries (ultimately, the money-hungry doctors) then having private clinics will in no way WORSEN the brain drain with respect to public hospitals. So in that regard, supporters of the public system should be indifferent. However, it would benefit the people that choose to go to the private clinics. Why deny them that quality of service if it is not going to make a difference to the public system?
Also, as I mentioned before, I'd argue that the presence of these doctors in the country contributes to the nation as a whole. Over 50% of their inflated private sector salaries will go to the government in income taxes, helping to fund other liberal-friendly causes like education and the environment (depending on who is in power). Most of the rest of it will end up in circulation, adding to the cash flow in the CANADIAN economy rather than that of the US. And, any research they do at private clinics (which will probably be a lot, since Biotech and Pharmaceutical giants will likely be large shareholders in these hospitals) will contribute to the overall medical research in Canada. These are all benefits for the nation as a whole. Clearly, in the big picture, it is favourable for the greater good to keep these doctors in the country, even at private clinics. The only way it is not favourable is directly in regards to the poor individual - but then welfare state ideology places the greater good above the needs of the individual, so they should all gladly support this.
As for reinforcing class divisions, my point was that in the grand scheme of things the effect would be minimal. Class divisions are already so prevalent that one more two-tiered system would have the approximate big picture effect of selling 3 different types of iPods at Futureshop (nano, regular, and the 60 GB vid ones). And knowing the importance Canadians place on health care, legislation will probably be put in place to ensure quality is maintained in public institutions and that medical insurance for private institutions is accessible for most. (medical insurance could be the key to ensuring accessibility, rather than outright condemning private institutions outright)
People will not die from being poor. I have seen the movie John Q and it makes a compelling argument. However, our public system is FAR better than theirs and that must be remembered before attempting to make any comparisons with the failures in the American health care system. We are starting off with one of the best public health care systems in the world (rated #1 in the G8 for a long time). In creating private hospitals, we are giving poor people less of a chance to survive than rich people would have, yes. However, we are not giving them any less of a chance than they currently have. They would have the same system. So they are not being condemned to die! They may not be given as much of a chance as others are being given, but those are two separate things.
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