Privatized healthcare not the solution, says MLA Phillips
By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on February 4, 2023.
Herald photo by Ry Clarke
Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips holds a press conference on healthcare in the province, Friday at the Galt Museum.Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips held a press-conference on Friday to outline the Alberta NDP’s commitment to rebuilding healthcare, calling for an end to private out-of-pocket paid healthcare options and stressing a need to help get more Albertans the medical attention they require.
“Since the UCP were elected, in 2019, Albertans have witnessed the results of extreme pressures on our health care system. This is a direct result of the chaos that has come from the UCP war on healthcare workers, specifically doctors and nurses,” said Phillips during a press conference at the Galt Museum. “One-in-three people in southern Alberta cannot find a family doctor. People are waiting longer for care, and they are waiting in the emergency room, because there is only the emergency room.”
Noting the pressure communities are seeing on their health care system, Phillips says the UCP is adding to the problem.
“We have seen nothing but chaos, inaction, and incompetence from the UCP. Now, when people need help the most, Danielle Smith is piling on more costs and more chaos in the healthcare system with more privatized-for-profit American-style healthcare. […] Private American-style healthcare does not work. We know this. A recent study by (an) American think tank found that while the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other industrialized country in the world, they have the shortest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of affordable avoidable deaths, the highest rate of newborn deaths, the highest rate of maternal mortality and the highest rates of adults with multiple chronic conditions. We cannot let this happen here.”
With the 2023 Alberta General Election fast approaching on May 29, talks around the province’s healthcare will be an area of focus for many parties.
“Our position as Alberta’s NDP, under a Rachel Notley government, that more privatized American-style for-profit healthcare is not the answer to addressing these issues in our healthcare system in this region or across the province. The UCP plan will only create more problems for Lethbridge and for all Albertans.”
Phillips notes Alberta needs more doctors and less costs, not the other way around. “Danielle Smith has said Albertans should be prepared to fundraise for their healthcare spending accounts. She has also, as recently as six to eight months ago when she was running to be UCP leader, (said) that Albertans should get used to the idea of paying for healthcare. Albertans are already very uncomfortable and not used to paying for higher utility bills, higher insurance bills, higher tuition, and higher property taxes. All those things have gone up under the UCP,” said Phillips. “We don’t need more costs. We have already dug ourselves into a significant hole with respect to healthcare.”
Hoping to keep healthcare open to all, the NDP will be campaigning for access for voters.
“Under a Rachel Notley government, the Alberta NDP will keep healthcare public. We will be rolling out our plans for family medicine to ensure that everyone in Lethbridge has access for a family doctor and the primary care that they need,” said Phillips. “We will be coming forward with more specific plans for Lethbridge in southern Alberta to improve staffing across the system. We have already pledged the largest healthcare recruitment effort ever seen in this province’s history. We believe that every Albertan, no matter how much you have in your bank account, deserves equal access to high quality care covered by universal public healthcare.”
10-9
So basically stop all the private clinics, pour untold amounts into a public system and the union friends and be worse off. Your Doctors clinic is a private corporation and there are over 100 private clinics in the country now. You going to shut them all down??? The phot is self explanatory. Your podium is old. Get a new one.
Right on!
I can’t believe that people still buy this old broken record.
With the demographic’s shifting and costs sky-rocketing a study I read awhile back predicted that if measures are not taken now to control costs by 2040, Health-Care will eat up around 80% of the provincial budget!
Surely Shannon you can figure-out that this is not sustainable.