It Doesn’t Matter to Me If Health Care is Privately Delivered: Alta’s Klein

EDMONTON (CP) – Alberta Premier Ralph Klein acknowledged Tuesday that he personally doesn’t have a problem with the private delivery of health-care services.

In his strongest endorsement of private health care since hitting the campaign trail for the Nov. 22 provincial election, Klein said he doesn’t think it matters whether Albertans receive treatment from private or public health providers.

“I have a personal thought – and this is not government policy – but to me it doesn’t matter as long as Martha and Henry and Mr. and Mrs. Grundy get their care.”

He noted during a radio phone-in show that the Calgary Health Region is already contracting out 500 surgeries to the privately-operated Health Resource Centre (HRC).

“There was a big hullabaloo over that, but we’ve accommodated 500 more procedures. That’s important – privately delivered, but publicly funded.”

Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said the HRC contract that was announced last month shows exactly why Alberta should not be contracting out health-care services.

He said the surgeries will cost taxpayers 10 per cent more than if they were performed in public hospitals.

The $6-million deal allows the health centre to charge the health authority about $8,690 for a procedure that costs an average of $7,900 in a public facility.

“Not only does private health care cost more and raise concerns around quality of care, but there’s also less accountability to the patient and to the taxpayer,” Taft said.

He added that Klein’s comments should remove any doubt about the direction in which the governing Tories plan to head.

“The people of Alberta can safely assume the premier will be pushing for more private health care when the election is over,” he said. “His comments fuel all our fears that dark days loom ahead for Alberta’s health-care system.”

NDP Leader Brian Mason said private health care has proven to be more costly and produces poorer outcomes than publicly delivered, publicly funded health care.

He pledged that his party would uphold the Canada Health Act, end privatization of health care and ban for-profit diagnostic clinics. He challenged Klein to do the same.

“It’s increasingly clear that in fact the premier was misleading Albertans when he said he doesn’t have a plan to privatize health care,” said Mason.

“He does and that has got to be the main issue, as far as we’re concerned, in this campaign.”

Taft noted that private health care was rejected by the federal Royal Commission on health, headed by former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow.

Before the election call, Klein promised unspecified radical changes to transform a system that is “everything to everybody” to more of a backstop against catastrophic illness.

He has said rapidly increasing costs have made the health-care system unsustainable.

A series of reports commissioned by his government have recommended such things as delisting services, charging fees, hiking health-care premiums and moving to more private delivery of health care.

Klein has said his government is prepared to violate the Canada Health Act, if necessary, to save medicare.

But he has avoided discussing his plans for health care, other than to say he has no secret agenda to privatize it.

He has said public discussions will be held next spring, but he has offered no details.