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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Two-tier health care isn’t right for Canada

We want proper investment in our public system, says letter writer
Black Press Media
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A male patient is prepped to have a cyst removed from his right knee at the Cambie Surgery Centre, in Vancouver on Wednesday, August 31, 2016. Dr. Brian Day, a self-styled champion of privatized health care, is bringing his fight to British Columbia Supreme Court on Tuesday for the start of a months-long trial he says is about patients’ access to affordable treatment, while his opponents accuse him of trying to gut the core of Canada’s medical system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

To the editor,

I am very unhappy to see privatized health care getting mixed up in our public system. This year a friend thought he was going to need orthopedic surgery on his knee. He was in great pain. He was told the wait for getting assessed was a year but that he could have an assessment next week for $800. Similarly the surgery could be had in just a month for $8,000. This is exactly the system we don’t want.

We want proper investment in our public system so that Canadians don’t have unreasonable waits. And if doctors want to practise outside of our system that is their affair. But if they do they should not be eligible for public funds at all.

Our public health system should be based on need, not ability to pay.

Frances Deverell, Nanaimo

RELATED: Closing arguments begin in B.C. case launched in 2009 over private health care

To the editor,

I fail to understand how the introduction of private medical insurance for procedures already covered by our public health care system would improve anything. Not everyone can afford private insurance. Those who receive it through work will be subject to higher premiums. And, most importantly, not everyone will qualify for it.

The private insurance industry is not in the business of covering those with high needs. No thank you. Let’s stick to the system where everyone is covered and everyone gets the care they need regardless of the status of their health and their wealth.

Ted Benkhe, Nanaimo

The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.