Parkland's new book on health insurance
Parkland Institute released its newest book, today:
The Bottom Line: The Truth Behind Private Health Insurance in Canada
By Diana Gibson and Colleen Fuller
This book is available from the Parkland ($12.65 including GST and shipping) and at a bookstore near you.
Co-author, Colleen Fuller, and Harvey Voogd, provincial coordinator for the Friends of Medicare, will be on a 7 city Alberta tour beginning this Thursday, March 23. Details below.
Book overview, order form and poster for the tour are available for download from our website at http://www.ualberta.ca/parkland
*************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 20, 2006
Albertas health care system under threat
Governments Third Way will cost more, and be bad for patients new book
EDMONTONA new book warns that the Alberta Governments proposed changes will actually make the provinces health care system more expensive, and provide less choice to the majority of Albertans. The best path to better health care for Canada is to strengthen and expand the public health care system.
Diana Gibson, co-author of The Bottom Line: The Truth Behind Private Health Insurance in Canada and Research Director of the University of Albertas Parkland Institute says Experience in Canada and other countries is clear: privatized health financing costs more, not less. A myriad of wasteful administrative costs afflicts the private system: marketing, higher CEO salaries, shareholder profits, and lacking economies of scale. The book notes that private health insurance administrative costs are triple those of public systems.
Ms Gibson says If you look at the actual numbers behind the governments spin, you will see that our public system is financially sustainable: costs have not grown as a proportion of GDP. Where the costs have grown sharply is where the private sector is most involved: pharmaceuticals and private insurance.
Private health insurance systems are also worse for patients. Colleen Fuller, co-author and President of PharmaWatch, says the majority of patients would have less choice, not more, under a private system. Experience with private health insurance in other countries and with supplementary private insurance in Canada shows that many people are unable to obtain adequate coverage. Those who are elderly, or have a history of illnesses, are often rejected by private health insurers, leaving them with no health insurance. Ms. Fuller notes that almost half of personal bankruptcies in the United States are due to medical costs.
Private health insurance is also bad for the medical profession. American doctors routinely lose 15-30% of their billings because private insurers deny their claims. In Canada before medicare it was not uncommon for doctors to lose tens of thousands of dollars per year in unpaid medical bills.
The Bottom Line also clarifies the confusion that has been deliberately created around the Supreme Court of Canadas recent Chaoulli decision. The Courts decision actually does not apply outside of Quebec and does not rule against public health care insurance. The ruling in fact leaves open a wide range of avenues to reduce waiting times entirely within the public system, options the Bottom Line authors explain further. The Courts decision also states that there is no single European model of health care financing, directly contradicting the Alberta governments public relations efforts.
The book points out that adding a parallel private system of health care financing would make public system waitlists longer, not shorter. A for-profit system would drain medical practitioners and healthier patients from the public system, while leaving the sicker and more costly patients behind. The authors note that this would eventually result in calls to fix the public system by fully privatizing it.
The book concludes with a 7-point agenda to protect the rights of patients by strengthening and improving the public health financing system. The book launch will be followed up by a seven-city speaking tour. Details of the tour are in the accompanying flyer.
**********************************************************************************
SPEAKING TOUR
Parkland Institute and Friends of Medicare present a seven-city speaking tour by Colleen Fuller (co-author of the upcoming Parkland book "The Bottom Line: The truth behind private health insurance in Canada") and Harvey Voogd (Provincial coordinator of the Friends of Medicare). Ms. Fuller and Mr. Voogd will speak on The Third Way scheme for private health insurance. Find out more about the Alberta governments plan to make Albertans rely on private insurance for health care they need and what it means for the future of Medicare.
Tour dates and locations:
March 23, 7:30 pm, Room D208, Grande Prairie Regional College, Grande Prairie
March 24, 7:00 pm, ETLC 007, University of Alberta, on 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues, (use East Entrance) Edmonton
March 25, 2:00 pm, Margaret Parsons Theatre, Red Deer College, Red Deer
March 27, 7:00 pm, Sawridge Hotel, Ft. McMurray
March 28, 7:00 pm, Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre, 1320-5th Ave NW., Calgary
March 29, 7:00 pm, Medicine Hat Public Library "Theatre", 414-1 St SE, Medicine Hat
March 30, 7:00 pm, Sandman Inn Hotel, 421-Mayor Magrath Drive South, Lethbridge
The Bottom Line: The Truth Behind Private Health Insurance in Canada
By Diana Gibson and Colleen Fuller
This book is available from the Parkland ($12.65 including GST and shipping) and at a bookstore near you.
Co-author, Colleen Fuller, and Harvey Voogd, provincial coordinator for the Friends of Medicare, will be on a 7 city Alberta tour beginning this Thursday, March 23. Details below.
Book overview, order form and poster for the tour are available for download from our website at http://www.ualberta.ca/parkland
*************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 20, 2006
Albertas health care system under threat
Governments Third Way will cost more, and be bad for patients new book
EDMONTONA new book warns that the Alberta Governments proposed changes will actually make the provinces health care system more expensive, and provide less choice to the majority of Albertans. The best path to better health care for Canada is to strengthen and expand the public health care system.
Diana Gibson, co-author of The Bottom Line: The Truth Behind Private Health Insurance in Canada and Research Director of the University of Albertas Parkland Institute says Experience in Canada and other countries is clear: privatized health financing costs more, not less. A myriad of wasteful administrative costs afflicts the private system: marketing, higher CEO salaries, shareholder profits, and lacking economies of scale. The book notes that private health insurance administrative costs are triple those of public systems.
Ms Gibson says If you look at the actual numbers behind the governments spin, you will see that our public system is financially sustainable: costs have not grown as a proportion of GDP. Where the costs have grown sharply is where the private sector is most involved: pharmaceuticals and private insurance.
Private health insurance systems are also worse for patients. Colleen Fuller, co-author and President of PharmaWatch, says the majority of patients would have less choice, not more, under a private system. Experience with private health insurance in other countries and with supplementary private insurance in Canada shows that many people are unable to obtain adequate coverage. Those who are elderly, or have a history of illnesses, are often rejected by private health insurers, leaving them with no health insurance. Ms. Fuller notes that almost half of personal bankruptcies in the United States are due to medical costs.
Private health insurance is also bad for the medical profession. American doctors routinely lose 15-30% of their billings because private insurers deny their claims. In Canada before medicare it was not uncommon for doctors to lose tens of thousands of dollars per year in unpaid medical bills.
The Bottom Line also clarifies the confusion that has been deliberately created around the Supreme Court of Canadas recent Chaoulli decision. The Courts decision actually does not apply outside of Quebec and does not rule against public health care insurance. The ruling in fact leaves open a wide range of avenues to reduce waiting times entirely within the public system, options the Bottom Line authors explain further. The Courts decision also states that there is no single European model of health care financing, directly contradicting the Alberta governments public relations efforts.
The book points out that adding a parallel private system of health care financing would make public system waitlists longer, not shorter. A for-profit system would drain medical practitioners and healthier patients from the public system, while leaving the sicker and more costly patients behind. The authors note that this would eventually result in calls to fix the public system by fully privatizing it.
The book concludes with a 7-point agenda to protect the rights of patients by strengthening and improving the public health financing system. The book launch will be followed up by a seven-city speaking tour. Details of the tour are in the accompanying flyer.
**********************************************************************************
SPEAKING TOUR
Parkland Institute and Friends of Medicare present a seven-city speaking tour by Colleen Fuller (co-author of the upcoming Parkland book "The Bottom Line: The truth behind private health insurance in Canada") and Harvey Voogd (Provincial coordinator of the Friends of Medicare). Ms. Fuller and Mr. Voogd will speak on The Third Way scheme for private health insurance. Find out more about the Alberta governments plan to make Albertans rely on private insurance for health care they need and what it means for the future of Medicare.
Tour dates and locations:
March 23, 7:30 pm, Room D208, Grande Prairie Regional College, Grande Prairie
March 24, 7:00 pm, ETLC 007, University of Alberta, on 116 Street between 91 and 92 Avenues, (use East Entrance) Edmonton
March 25, 2:00 pm, Margaret Parsons Theatre, Red Deer College, Red Deer
March 27, 7:00 pm, Sawridge Hotel, Ft. McMurray
March 28, 7:00 pm, Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre, 1320-5th Ave NW., Calgary
March 29, 7:00 pm, Medicine Hat Public Library "Theatre", 414-1 St SE, Medicine Hat
March 30, 7:00 pm, Sandman Inn Hotel, 421-Mayor Magrath Drive South, Lethbridge
posted by Advocatus Diaboli @ 12:37 a.m.
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