‘Third way’ offers big risks, no benefits, AUPE president says
EDMONTON – The Alberta government’s “third-way” health care privatization plan runs the risk of harming Alberta businesses and the Canadian economy, says the president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
“Employers already complain about the cost of supplementary health benefits for their employees,” said Dan MacLennan.
“There is no way that AUPE members or other employees in a booming economy like Alberta’s will allow the additional insurance costs that are inevitable from a privatization scheme like this to be downloaded onto them and their families,” he stated. “Businesses and consumers alike are not going to be happy when those costs are passed on.”
In addition, MacLennan said, it is a well-established fact that major manufacturers prefer to locate plants in Canada over the United States because Canada’s public health care system makes it less costly for them to operate in this country.
“This is why we have huge corporations like General Motors publicly advocating on behalf of Canada’s publicly funded health care system,” he said.
“Any plan by the Alberta government to limit medical treatments covered by public health insurance and allow supplemental private insurance will create a two-tier health care system here and may force other provinces to adopt similar measures because of Canada’s trade agreements,” MacLennan said.
“Over time, that will raise costs in the Canadian manufacturing sector and make Canada less competitive,” he said. “I am fearful that these ‘reforms’ will be interpreted as an assault by Alberta on the economic wellbeing of Central Canada.
“The political implications of that for Alberta, and for a national government that is supported by many Albertans, are not insignificant,” MacLennan warned.
Despite perceived problems, Canada’s current single-payer system is known to be both more economically efficient and fairer to citizens requiring medical treatment than a privatized system like that in the United States, MacLennan said.
“What the government is proposing will have the direct effect of creating a two-tier health care system and ultimately increasing costs to taxpayers,” MacLennan said. “We need to look within the public system for improvements and solutions.
“Because of our financial position, Alberta can continue to lead the way nationally in health care innovations within the framework of public health care,” he said.
“What we obviously don’t need is expensive private insurance for medical treatments that should be part of the health care available to all, or double-dipping by physicians who are both in and out of the public health system,” he concluded.
For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)