Dr. Devon Mitchell, a Vancouver-based resident emergency physician and spokesperson for the Canadian Doctors for Medicare, said he has “very little faith” that private, for-profit clinics owned by investors can provide efficient care.
“Because at the end of the day, if you’re delivering the same service but you have to carve off an extra five to eight per cent for your shareholders, there’s no way you can deliver that at cost,” he said. “Ultimately, you’re just getting the same care for a higher cost with less oversight because it’s happening in a private facility.”
How about, instead of creating a for-profit industry that will gradually canibalize the public funded healthcare options, until they’ve become the only option and start squeezing everything for more money, we invest in the public system so it can address the issues we currently have?
Suggesting private healthcare to address a public healthcare issue is akin to fixing flaking paint by burning the house down. Instead of, you know, investing into some paint and fixing it.