About ten days ago Andrew and I started a discussion on the Canadian health care system. It occurs to me that if this goes on much longer, providing an ever-increasing list of links at the beginning of each post for the benefit of those who happen to wander into the middle of it is going to become a bit of pain. So I'm making up an index of the posts, with a bit of a synopsis of each, and I'll update it as new posts are added to the conversation. This way I can provide one link at the beginning of a post and the interested reader can get caught up on the conversation. (Or decide that both Andrew and I are crazy and go on his way.)
What's So Wrong with Privatizing Health Care?
In which Andrew suggests that the cure for what ails Canada's health care system is to increase privatization, i.e. encourage more private sector involvement in the delivery of health care services, and wonders why so many Canadians are opposed to this, or at least sceptical of it.
Faith based privatization
In which pogge displays symptoms of Fear of Privatization, a psychological condition born of experience with the gap between the theory of market forces and the real-life results of giving those forces free rein. In particular, an example of private sector involvement in long term care in BC is provided where the results look a bit shaky so far.
Faith based privatization II
In which pogge lists numerous examples of corporate misbehaviour and argues that any proposal for increased private sector involvement in health care has to deal in specifics and acknowledge the possibility that corporate malfeasance can happen, rather than dealing only in theory and hoping that bad acts won't happen.
Public/Private Health Care
In which Andrew provides examples of his own to show that our current publicly run system is far from perfect and argues that because it's public and essentially a monopoly, there are no alternatives available short of leaving the country. He then offers more specific proposals for private sector involvement and suggests why he believes these would improve the system.
An open letter to Andrew: Let's review the premise
In which pogge, in a state of fatigue and paranoia, reads too much into one of Andrew's sources and wonders darkly if he's really dealing with a sleeper agent planted in the Canadian blogosphere by the Cato Institute and bent on undermining the Canadian way of life.
Open Response to Pogge
In which Andrew tells pogge to calm down and stop being silly (no, not really) and reiterates his support for the Canadian idea of health care: single payer, timely access for all, etc. The spirit of the Canada Health Act applies even if the document isn't to be treated as literal gospel.
Show me the money!
In which pogge asks for numbers. How much cost savings would privatization result in? How much profit would the private sector expect in return? And how open would they be with the book-keeping?
The Money Hunt
In which Andrew votes in favour of "rabid regulation" no matter who is delivering health care (no argument here) and offers up a certain Senator in support of his fee-for-service suggestion for funding hospitals. Pogge has some reading to do.
Opportunities and imperatives
In which pogge suggests that opportunity, the driving force behind the market economy, won't always satisfy and may often conflict with the imperative represented by single payer health care.
