By Gil McGowan, AFL Staff

Premier Ralph Klein has announced a new strategy for health care that many critics predict will pave the way for private, for-profit hospitals in Alberta.

In a televised address to the province on Nov. 16, Klein said his government will introduce a law sometime early in the New Year that will give regional health authorities the power to hire private, for-profit health care companies to provide core medical services.

This will be the third time in two years that the Premier and other members of his Conservative government have attempted to open the door for private health care.

The first attempt was made in the spring of 1998, when Health Minister Halvar Jonson introduced the notorious Health Statutes Amendment Act, better known as Bill 37. In the face of strong public opposition, the Bill was withdrawn – not just once, but again in the fall of 1998 when the government attempted to bring it back.

Despite the fact that many Albertans remain extremely concerned about the future of Medicare, the Premier seems more determined than ever to push ahead with radical and controversial changes to the system. He accuses people who oppose his private health care plan of "fear-mongering" and he says organizations such as the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Friends of Medicare have been spreading misinformation about his government’s true intentions.

The Premier says the new legislation – which some critics are calling "the son of Bill 37" – will simply give the administrators of Alberta’s health care system more "choices" when it comes to deciding how services should be delivered.

In his televised speech, Klein predicted that the government will save millions of dollars and shorten waiting lists for certain medical procedures by contracting health services out to the private sector. He also promised that his new private health law will not undermine Medicare or reduce access to publicly-insured medical services.

Not surprisingly, most Medicare supporters aren’t buying the Premier’s reassurances. As AFL president Audrey Cormack put it: "The Alberta government’s actions over the past few years speak louder than Premier Klein’s words. The Tories have gutted what was once one of the best health care systems in the world – and the Premier’s new privatization plan is just going to make a bad situation worse."

Cormack says that if the Premier is really concerned about waiting lists he could simply re-open some of the thousands of hospital beds that were closed over the past few years as the result of deep budget cuts.

"As it stands right now, there are literally thousands and thousands of hospital beds sitting idle in public hospitals because of chronic under-funding," she says. "Why should taxpayers’ money be spent on private hospitals when resources that already are in place in the public system are not being fully utilized?"

Friends of Medicare spokesperson Christine Burdett also questioned the Premier’s logic. She says other governments have experimented with the contracting-out of health services – and the results have always been bad news for the public health system.

"Premier Klein makes it sound like he’s the first politician on the planet to think of a health care model based on the idea of private delivery of public services," says Burdett. "The truth is that this model is not new. It has been tried before in places like Britain, Australia and New Zealand. And wherever it has been tried, it has failed."

The most recent example of a government experimenting with private delivery of public health services is Australia, says Burdett. In the Australian state of New South Wales, a conservative government contracted out a significant portion of it’s health care services to private companies – only to discover that the private health companies cost more and delivered a substantially lower quality of care than the public sector.

Burdett says the results of the Australian experiment are not surprising. She points out that research conducted in countries around the world clearly demonstrates that private health care is much more expensive that public health care. That’s because private heath care companies have to set much more money aside for administration; they have to divert significant amounts of their revenue to owners and shareholders in the form profits; and they have to pay taxes which public hospitals are exempt from.

As a result, only a portion of each health care dollar that is spent in a private health care facility actually goes to cover direct patient care.

The fact that privatization doesn’t save money is borne out by the Calgary Regional Health Authority’s experiment with cataract surgery, adds Burdett. Over the past three years, all cataract surgeries in Calgary have been contracted out to private-sector health companies. During that time, waiting periods for treatment have actually lengthened to about 14 months – compared to waits of only 3-4 months in Edmonton where almost all cataract operations are performed in public hospitals.

At the same time, Burdett says the private operators have not been able to perform procedures any more cheaply or efficiently than public hospitals. In fact, cataract patients in Calgary are paying as much as $750 out of their own pockets for what the operators of the private clinics describe as "extras." In contrast, cataract patients receiving treatment in public facilities don’t have to pay a penny for their surgeries.

In addition to countering the Premier’s position on costs and waiting lists, Burdett argues that the government’s privatization plan is dangerous because it will act as a "foot-in-the-door" for major health care corporations – especially large and aggressive private firms from the United States who will be guaranteed access under the terms of NAFTA.

"Anyone who believes that these large, profit-hungry corporations will be content with a small piece of the pie is being extremely naïve," she says. "That’s the real danger of the Premier’s new health care plan: it will allow private health care companies to establish deep roots in Alberta. Over time, they will chip away at foundations of Medicare. Eventually, our entire system of public health care will be undermined."

Both Burdett and Cormack say that Premier Klein’s address should be seen as a "call-to-arms" for all Canadians who believe in Medicare.

"On two separate occasions now, Medicare supporters have been able to beat back legislation designed to pave the way for private hospitals," says Cormack. "But this time Premier Klein is taking charge of the campaign himself. That means this is the final showdown. Albertans who believe in Medicare are going to have to speak out even more forcefully than ever. We simply cannot afford to let this government proceed with this privatization plan. It would be the beginning of the end for public health care in this province."