Alberta Takes Another Step Towards Two-Tier Healthcare

The government of Ed Stelmach in Alberta has just decided that people will be able to opt-out of the public healthcare system for three years at a time. The government claims that this is simply a housekeeping measure, to reduce the amount of paperwork people have to do, but it is clearly more than that. To allow people to opt out of a universal healthcare system at all is a bad idea. To let them opt out for three years at a time is even worse.

The point of a universal healthcare system is that everyone pays into the system, and we can all draw on it when we are in need. The education system works exactly the same way. I don't have any kids, but my taxes still go to pay for the education system and I am perfectly happy with that. I haven't been to a hospital for care in close to 10 years, but I still have no problem with my taxes going to support a public, universal, healthcare system. To allow people to opt out of the system is to allow the system to be deprived of resources. And who do you think will opt out? Why the rich. Those that put the most money into the system in the first place through the progressive taxation system. What the government of Ed Stelmach is up to is a covert attempt to let healthcare privatization in through the back door. He should be ashamed of himself, and ashamed of the lies that he is telling to his people and to the rest of the country. If other provinces start doing this type of thing, we are going to be boarding the handbasket to hell in an awful hurry, and we are going to be without a public healthcare system. And we are back to the bad old days, when only those who could afford to pay would get medical care. For shame, Mr. Stelmach. For shame.

Cheers

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