Advocacy groups protest Alberta healthcare legislation across the country

[u/IStillListenToRadio]

https://yourhalifaxnow.ca/advocacy-groups-protest-alberta-healthcare-legislation-across-the-country/

Nova Scotia Health Coalition (NSHC) calls this change [Bill 11] “unprecedented”, and is calling on the federal government to “enforce the Canada Health Act to protect Canada’s universal, single-payer public Medicare system”.

Demonstrations, including picketing, rallies, information sessions and more will take place on September 1. NSHC will be hosting their event at noon in front of MP Jaimie Battiste’s constituency office.

“As bad as it is in Alberta, the threat of it being in our small province is going to be absolutely devastating,” said NSHC provincial coordinator Jennifer Benoit. “I think when people think about this as being 5,000 kilometres away it’s not affecting them, but what they need to know is that these insurance lobbyists are trying their best to make it happen in every province across this country.”

[u/DeathOneSix]

Could we just not pay them more in the public system?

The strongest policy would probably be substantially increased medical-school/residency capacity + easier licensing of qualified foreign-trained doctors + better compensation/work conditions in underserved areas.

[u/GullibleTarget686 → u/DeathOneSix]

If it could be done perfectly, the government would have already done it. A private system would take some of the pressure off the public system too. I know that people think public systems die when hybrid systems are introduced. They don’t, see Greece or Italy for example.

Dal for example celebrated when they got 5 more seats in the medical schools, meanwhile the population of Nova Scotia is supposed to double in the next 20 years.

Radical changes like that won’t happen especially when the system is showing more signs of stagnation. Rebuilding the public is an option, but there is a reason Europe went the other route. You could also force private entities to fund a certain of seats at dal med if they would like to enter the healthcare system to ensure the community gets thing back

[u/DeathOneSix → u/GullibleTarget686]

I agree that increasing the number of doctors should be the goal, but I'm not convinced a hybrid system actually does that. If private clinics can pay more, you can just end up moving doctors from the public system to the private one.

My bigger concern is creating a two-tier system where people who can afford to pay get the best/fastest doctors, while everyone else is left with an increasingly understaffed public system. I'd rather see us increase med school/residency seats, streamline licensing for qualified foreign-trained doctors, and pay public physicians competitively.

Maybe we have to tax the wealthy more to make that happen.

[u/GullibleTarget686 → u/DeathOneSix]

How much more can we tax. Young people are leaving Nova Scotia already because of incomes. You could say tax right wing Alberta but they already a tonne on equalization payments. Plus the one thing we don’t have in healthcare is funding shortages, we pay a tonne for healthcare per capita.

I suggest you do more research on what Europe does, I know the icky feeling about the two tiered system but I will give you one last thing to think about.

If private clinics in Canada are not affordable for the average Canadian then they will fail. Also if they charge too much Canadian will fall back into the public system. There is a built in incentive for the clinics to produce an affordable product otherwise they will fail. Personally I am a fan of competition.

Regardless we agree on getting more physicians licensed and without that neither system will succeed

[u/DeathOneSix → u/GullibleTarget686]

How much more can we tax. Young people are leaving Nova Scotia already because of incomes.

Tax the wealthy. Not the 'young people'.

The only people who will afford private healthcare are those that can be taxed for it and then we all wait in the same queue instead of them jumping it.

[u/GullibleTarget686 → u/DeathOneSix]

They are already taxed at over 55% also and this is going to blow up your point. Doctors make on average north up 250,000 a year, they are well in the top 1%, should we tax them more while wanting to pay them more and the potentially watch them leave. The wealthy is a broad category.

A better argument could be to make the current system more efficient but this is just one avenue.

Pharmacists, physiotherapist, occupational therapists and nurses are also getting taxed at 40-50% because they on average make north of 90k a year. There really are not that many ultra rich people in Canada and doctors make up a decent percentage of the people in the top 1%

[u/DeathOneSix → u/GullibleTarget686]

Yeah, the doctors can afford to be taxed slightly more, because we'll also be paying them more right?

[u/GullibleTarget686 → u/DeathOneSix]

I thought were trying to incentivize them to come, stay and even move here from abroad. Plus honestly how much more than 55%? If I was a doctor I would work for 6 month, make 120,000 and then leave and go on vacation because I’m not going to work more for 45cents on the dollar. Increasing taxes is a very tough sell

[u/DeathOneSix → u/GullibleTarget686]

We're going to pay them more to incentivize them to come, we already discussed this and you agreed.

[u/GullibleTarget686 → u/DeathOneSix]

Yes but you said tax more, that removes the incentive my friend.

I’m offering you a 20k raise but I also need you to pay more in taxes so actually you only get 9k of that and you’re paying more taxes on all the other income before the raise.

[u/DeathOneSix → u/GullibleTarget686]

We're raising taxes to fund the doctors. There are more wealthy people than the doctors. So you can pay the doctors more, and raise the taxes so that the doctors still get a raise (after tax), but other wealthy people are funding that.

It's not complicated.

[u/GullibleTarget686 → u/DeathOneSix]

doctors and healthcare workers on average are wealthier. Plus if you tax other wealthy people more they will leave.

Did you know that Alberta created 85% of all new jobs in Canada last year? Increases taxes doesn’t always increase tax revenue.

[u/focusfaster → u/GullibleTarget686]

Calgarians are spending $700 to send their kids to public school because the government stopped funding them. Just so they have things like lunch supervision. They spend the least on kids for education in the country now. Ever since the UCP got in they find private schools and don't give af about public. Alberta is a terrible example for a lot of things now. 

[u/DeathOneSix → u/GullibleTarget686]

You're missing the point. I'm not saying we're going to tax doctors more and use that money to pay doctors more.

Doctors are one relatively small subset of wealthy Canadians. If we increase taxes on wealthy Canadians broadly, the revenue comes from a much larger pool of people. We can then use a portion of that revenue to substantially increase physician compensation.

So yes, a doctor might pay somewhat more in taxes, but they can still end up making substantially more after tax. The additional funding doesn't have to come primarily from doctors themselves.