The Private Healthcare Zombie Lives!

WhyDoTheyHateUniversalitySoMuch?
TheCanadaHealthActMustDieVille


This is what happens when your provincial government takes no real action.......


Catherine Rolfsen
Vancouver Sun, Apr 09/07

A controversial private urgent care clinic plans to reopen its doors today to paying British Columbians under a new operating scheme.

The Urgent Care Centre at False Creek Surgical Centre, which stopped treating B.C. residents last December, announced that it has recruited out-of-province doctors who have never been enrolled in the province's Medical Services Plan.

That means they can charge B.C. residents for their services, according to Mark Godley, medical director of the False Creek Centre.

"Our new approach to staffing UCC means we are bringing additional doctors into B.C. and not taking any out of the existing public system," said Godley in a written statement. "We will also be able to relieve some of the pressure on hospital emergency rooms and help reduce wait times."

Did you get that?

The good Dr. Godley, who has received a two-fingered slap-tap on the wrist more than once already, is trying again, this time with imported, hired-gun, mercenary medicos.

Which is bizarre, for all kinds of reasons.

However, I suppose we can take solace in the fact that, while our oil distribution system is now being run by the smartest guys in the room that rose from the phoenix of Enron's ashes and that we might soon be the marionette on the end of Exxon's strings as far as offshore drilling goes, there is no evidence to support the notion that Dr. Godley's mercenary medicos are being provided by Blackwater, Kellogg Brown and Root and/or some other well known multinat-merc-for-hire-type outfit.

At least not yet.

But, all snarkolepsy aside, what is really scary about this is the fact that the privatization Zombies no longer even care if they are violating the Health Act.

Again, from Ms. Rolfsen's piece in today's Sun:

Asked whether the new plan will violate the Canada Health Act, the public relations spokesman for the clinic said he didn't know.

"As far as the clinic's concerned, all the regulations that it has to comply with are being complied with," Chris Freimond said Sunday.

Now we have no idea if the good Mr. Freimond sucks on Eye Newt and gobbles down Ibogaine hand-over-fist while he works on his solipsistic spokesmodel strategies, but clearly this is a case of never-ending, walking dead-driven, envelope pushing.

And unless there is real pushback from the public that makes it clear that any government that does not drive a wooden stake through the heart of Zombie's like this will pay at the polls, it will continue to happen, over and over and over again.

And this, coupled with the constant barrage of flack-hackery that is sure to follow (see: Institute, Fraser and those fully discredited '73% of all government expenditures' powerpoint slides of Ms. Taylor's), will ultimately push us to a place where, all of a sudden, without anybody except maybe a few whacked-out bloggers noticing, there will be a wee bit of private insurance here, an HMO or three there, and, presto-chango, British Columbians will suddenly start losing their houses and their coverage if they are ever unfortunate enough to get, I dunno, really sick or something.

OK?

.