COMMENTARY: Privatization not the answer to N.L. health care woes

The fight for public health care is on. And we all need to raise our voice.

A health-care system in crisis is making it easy for governments to pave the way for privatization. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s plans for health care? User fees, co-pays, and slyly delisting services covered by health insurance by redefining them.

In Ontario, Doug Ford’s wage cap for public-sector workers and rising investment in private clinics and travel nursing is pushing the public health-care system to collapse.

Canada’s health care crisis was years in the making thanks to inadequate health human resource planning, a failure to improve working conditions, and unsafe staffing levels. The pandemic just tipped things over the edge and made privatization the low-hanging fruit. Yet, private solutions are exorbitantly expensive and ineffective. They waste precious taxpayer dollars by driving up vacancies within the public system, making the health care crisis worse.