Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Remembering what we have

For all the talk of our crumbling health-care system, consider the views of patients themselves:
(A Health Quality Council) survey found 94 per cent of patients reported receiving good, very good or excellent care overall in a Saskatchewan hospital.

I'm not quite sure how often 94% of people agree on anything, but this has to highlight the value of single-payer health care.

The survey does point out areas which need to be improved, including pain management and information, but these are relatively small issues in the bigger picture. And while there are waiting lists that need to be reduced, some strategic resource injections can fix those within the current system. We need to do more - but an awful lot of good is being done already.

The main argument for privatization is to ensure that individuals have the chance to pay for services to meet their needs. When such an overwhelming majority is already happy with the current system, there shouldn't be any great impetus for major structural change.

Update: The full story is now available.

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