winnipegsun.com - Tom Brodbeck - Don't blame NDP gov't for everything

More voices for choice and a good review of why MRI's should not be apublic monopoly.
The key is that the monopoly cannot keep up with the demand. "Some monopoly and only in Canada "-huh! Q-J
winnipegsun.com - Tom Brodbeck - Don't blame NDP gov't for everything

But there isn't.

You can blame the NDP government in Manitoba for screwing up a lot of things in health care since it took office in 1999.

But on diagnostic services, they've done about as much as any government could be expected to do without raising taxes any further than they already have.

You can accuse them of breaking their election promises on reducing these wait times, because they have broken their promise.

But the truth is, there's not a whole lot more they could have done on diagnostics.

In the 1990s, it was fashionable to blame health care woes on government cut-backs.

The federal Liberals slashed transfer payments to the provinces by some $6 billion a year, making it very difficult for provinces such as Manitoba to increase funding for health care.

Despite the federal cuts, the former Filmon government was able to make small increases to its health budget in the mid-1990s, followed by several years of healthy increases until they were defeated in 1999.

The Doer government inherited a strong set of books and revenue streams when it came to office and dumped billions into the health-care budget, some of which did some good, much of which got lost in a growing, bloated bureaucracy.

Diagnostic services -- MRIs, CT scans and ultrasounds -- were the beneficiaries of some of those riches.

In Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority was able to substantially increase its capacity for diagnostic services.

Trouble is, the demand is so gargantuan for MRIs and CT scans, it's almost impossible for any government to keep pace with it.

In 1999, the WRHA was doing about 1,000 scans a month. There were about 1,500 people on the waiting list at that time, which stood at around three to four months.

Fast-forward six years. The WRHA is now doing twice as many scans to try to eliminate the backlog.

But the demand is too great.

MRIs are very popular and useful tools for doctors to diagnose all kinds of ailments and the government monopoly system simply can't keep up with the volume.

The more capacity they add, the greater the demand grows.

Health Minister Tim Sale said recently that the government has enough MRIs in the province to provide the volume of scans it can afford.

And that's the key -- what it can afford.

The government recently added another MRI at the nationalized Pan Am Clinic which is expected to add more volume to the system, although a good chunk of that volume has been purchased by the Workers Compensation Board for priority access.

(If you're an injured worker covered by WCB and require an MRI, you will get speedier access to an MRI at Pan Am than the average guy on the street. Two-tier? Of course it is.)

But even with all the added capacity, the wait list for MRIs has still not come down and even if it does, it will still likely be an eight- to 10-week waiting period.

Which is why people should have the right to use their own money to buy an MRI scan privately if they choose.

And that's why the Maples Surgical Centre in Winnipeg plans to provide MRI services to the public for $695 a scan.

It's not because the government has necessarily done a poor job in providing MRI services. It's just that at some point you have to give your head a shake and realize that government can't be the sole provider of all health care services. There should be alternative options to access care.

We do it with schools. Government provides a universally accessible public school system. And much of it is excellent.

Nevertheless, people have the right to buy education services privately if they choose, many paying thousands of dollars a year to put their children into schools of their choice.

The government can't be the sole provider of K-12 schooling. It can ensure that basic schooling is available to all. But it can't be all things to all people.

Nor can health care.

It's time we stopped fooling ourselves that it can.

( It is also time to allow others to offer the needed services QJ)