NDP vowing to rein in for-profit medicine :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: NDP vowing to rein in for-profit medicine

Posted by admin on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 03:27 AM

OTTAWA -- A federal NDP government would crack down on for-profit medicine such as private MRI clinics and vastly expand Ottawa's role in health care -- including restoring the federal share of health funding to 25 per cent of costs.
The New Democratic Party, which releases its health-care platform today, is also proposing a national pharmacare program to help more Canadians afford prescription drugs, plus a cross-country home-care initiative, sources say. NDP Leader Jack Layton is trying to make health care a key ballot-box question for an expected summer election. He is painting himself as the strongest champion of publicly delivered health care in an attempt to distinguish his party from the Liberals' and Conservatives' far more modest commitments. "I hope people will see this as a real defence of public health-care delivery," Mr. Layton said. "We're worried about the incursion of profit-making enterprises. . . . It's a little like weeds taking over a lawn when it's not properly cared for." The NDP is proposing an exceptionally activist role for Ottawa in policing health care, saying it will rewrite the Canada Health Act to discourage the delivery of public health services by for-profit clinics or hospitals. It would reclassify diagnostic services such as MRIs to be medically necessary so they would be included in this. (Ottawa cannot outlaw for-profit clinics or hospitals because health is a shared jurisdiction with provinces. It can only withhold health funds from provinces that don't follow the Canada Health Act.) This amendment would allow Ottawa to penalize provinces that reimburse for-profit clinics or hospitals with public funds for delivering publicly insured services. Such a move could dramatically hurt operations at for-profit surgical facilities, MRI providers and eye-surgery clinics. Opponents of for-profit operations argue that private clinics try to sell people enhanced services or add-ons and often take these patients ahead of those who want only basic, medically insured services. The NDP would phase in most of its health-care commitments over several years while balancing the federal budget annually. The cost of its health promises will be released during the election campaign. The NDP would boost the percentage of health-system costs funded by Ottawa to 25 per cent -- from an estimated 18 per cent today. This was recommended by the Romanow commission on medicare in 2002. This would cost Ottawa an extra $5-billion a year, one NDP official estimates. Mr. Layton would use budget surpluses -- routinely used to retire federal debt -- to fund additional spending. Ipsos-Reid pollster Darrell Bricker is skeptical about whether the NDP can capitalize during the election by painting itself as the lone defender of publicly delivered care. "This is very much the same ground Alexa McDonough tried to plow and it didn't work for her," he said, referring to the 2000 election when Ms. McDonough was leader. Mr. Bricker said health care is a confusing issue for voters, especially when all parties profess their support for the public system. The NDP stands at 18 per cent in the polls, twice the level the party received in the 2000 election.

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