To your health

Among the worst situations a person could find themselves in, is to be ill and not have the money for treatment. It comes close to being hungry or thirsty and not being able to afford food or drink. As we are a “society”, with basic needs for survival, there are certain things that should not be in private hands. When a service is in private hands, it’s a given that profits are at the top of the list, even if the top spot is shared with other values. I’ve touched on this in the past, and we are all well aware, especially from the experiences of the last couple of years, (and counting), that what we took for granted as essential and guarded is not guarded. The private sector controls much of what we deem as essential, and for those of us who feel the hurt every time one of those services or goods goes up in price, it’s an unfortunate situation to be in.

The health care system in Canada was always something the country could be proud of. To be able to get medical assistance whenever needed is a sure sign that society has evolved. Couple that with the fact that no money is demanded for such an essential service is as good as it gets. But there’s a problem, those who see healthcare as an incredibly profitable business don’t like the fact that it’s beyond their reach. I’m sure governments have been feeling the pressure for years from lobbyists to open up the system to include the “for profit” sector. I recall a few decades ago, the debates in Ontario over the allowing of such services alongside the public ones. I recall one of the main arguments against was that it would lead to the deterioration of the public healthcare system, but the proverbial foot in the door was allowed anyway and, in my view, has played a part in what’s happening to healthcare today. It’s not just in Canada, I keep up with news in Britain and their NHS is in worse shape that Canada’s. Here in Portugal, although we’re still in decent shape at the moment, the same types of cracks are beginning to appear.

How much evidence do we need to finally realize that governments are not in it for us? If they were, we wouldn’t have these problems in public healthcare. Why don’t doctors, nurses and hospitals get the respect they need and deserve? Nobody’s perfect and I realize that there may be some exaggeration in their claims, but It’s evident that things are not going as they should. It’s like your car, for instance, a light goes on the dash, but the car still runs and drives, so the issue gets ignored, a piece falls off here and there, a tear in the seat, a strange noise or two.

By the time you decide that enough is enough, you end up with an astronomical bill to set things right. Same thing with the healthcare system. Years of neglect instead of regular maintenance and suddenly “there isn’t enough money” to get it back to where it should be. The private sector is only too glad to help with the government’s failings, and in turn, the government is very glad their private partners are there to “help”. In the end, we’ll end up having to fork out for everything and the prices will be at the owner’s discretion. Not everything can be run as a business. What we need is for essential services to be run in a non-profit system. It may be the only way to control our way of life to be able to survive as a society. In Britain, home energy suppliers were even given the go-ahead to install pre-payment meters in homes without the owner’s consent! The government put a pause on that measure after the backlash from citizens, but it’s a great example of how things go when all is run for profit. With a little effort many examples like these can be found around the world, especially in economically poorer countries.

Think about how it’s going in the States, that should be enough to wake most of us up from this slumber. Again, policy is dictated by those who can afford to comfortably weather the storms. The rest of us need to wear plastic bags over our socks so that our feet don’t get soaked due to the holes in our boots.

Fiquem bem.

Raul Freitas/MS