Samuel Shortt's paper on Bill 11 is another thinly disguised attempt to discredit private surgical facilities and instill fear in the public that such facilities are going to doom our Canadian health care system.1
We already have “for-profit” surgical facilities in most physicians' offices, because many provinces pay physicians a “tray fee” for removing skin lesions or performing other minor procedures. If Shortt is correct, then the North American Free Trade Agreement has already doomed us.
Couldn't we all be open to the fact that there are many ways to achieve good medical care? Some people work better on salary. Some work better in institutions where they have all the administrative functions looked after for them.
I know that I work better in my own surgical facility where I can hire and promote on the basis of performance and not some arbitrary union rule. Operating my own facility allows me to perform surgery, to organize my time and to provide a level of patient care that I have not been able to achieve in a publicly run institution.
Creating fear about losing our system because of the North American Free Trade Agreement is skirting the issue. I believe in our Canadian health care system, but we need not be so afraid about talking about and discussing all the options.