[LabComm] BC government must guarantee patient services not shareholder profits with new federal funding, says James

[BC NDP NEWSWIRE]

VANCOUVER -- Gordon Campbell should use newly committed federal funding to guarantee publicly delivered health care in BC, BC NDP leader Carole James said today.

James welcomed the deal on increased health care funding reached between the provinces and the federal government, and called on the BC Liberal government to restore integrity to the public health care system.

"The federal money isn't much in the context of the provincial health budget," said James. "And that's why the province must put public health care dollars to work in an innovative way that protects the public system."

James said it's time for Mr. Campbell to demonstrate a concrete commitment to public health care and immediately halt his plan to expand privatization as the key means of addressing the Liberal government's mismanagement of health care in BC.

"For three years Gordon Campbell has made the wrong choices for health care in BC. British Columbians are waiting longer than ever before for surgeries, they are paying more than ever before in medical premiums, and they're getting less in health care services. 

"There is a fundamental contradiction between what the Premier says publicly about health care and what his Liberal government does to undermine the public health care system in BC," said James. "British Columbians have had to listen to the Premier's rhetoric on public health care for three years while watching him reduce public accountability and increase privatization."

James said this new deal provides the Premier the opportunity to back away from further privatization and instead move to enhance the public health care system.

"Government should seek the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars in the delivery of health care," said James. "And we know the most cost-efficient means of providing patient care is in the public system, not through investor-owned private clinics."

James pointed to a recent McMaster University study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that found switching to investor-owned private, for-profit clinics would cost $7.2 billion more in annual health expenditures. 

The results of the study also found that health care consumers paid 19 per cent more at for-profit than non-profit clinics, and that investor-owned for-profit facilities cost more because they have to generate profits to satisfy shareholders, pay high executive salaries, and have higher administrative costs.

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