winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Just what the doctor ordered

Good news some people support health choice. It is time that the major media take action and hold the public health authorities to account. QJ

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Just what the doctor ordered

The Maples Surgical Centre is planning to sell MRI scans directly to the public. It's good news for health care in Manitoba. And it's exactly the kind of alternatives people need to get the best available care for them and their families.

Canadians have for years relied on a government monopoly health-care system to access care. It's given us mixed results.

While we have some of the best medical practitioners in the world in Canada and we receive excellent medical care in many situations, there are also serious shortcomings in the system.

One of the biggest ones is the unacceptably long waiting lists for services such as surgery and diagnostic imaging.

Governments have been unable to bring these waiting lists down over the years. And it hasn't been for a lack of money.



In Manitoba, the provincial health care budget has soared to $3.4 billion from $2.4 billion just five years ago. Despite that, the typical wait for hip replacement surgery is two years. And the wait for an elective MRI is three to four months.

The Maples Surgical Centre says it will be able to book an MRI within 48 hours.

There's a fee, of course. It's $695. But for those whose priority it is to get an MRI scan as quickly as possible, they will now have the option of using their own money for expedited service.

We think that's a right people deserve.

Eventually, these types of services may be covered under private health insurance plans, which many people already buy.

There will be some who criticize this free-market approach to health care, claiming it's the slippery slope to the end of medicare.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

When a clinic like The Maples sells MRIs to the public directly, it does nothing to erode the quality or quantity of MRI scans the government provides.

In fact, people who buy the scans privately take themselves off the public queue and make that list shorter for others.

Besides, a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling on private health insurance is clear. The top court ruled recently in a Quebec case that government can't deny people the right to buy private medical services if government is not providing those services in a timely manner.

Clearly, government is not providing MRIs in a timely manner.