PrintUNA marks Universal Health Coverage Day
A new law that will create a parallel private market for physicians will put the existence of universal public health care in Alberta at risk
United Nurses of Alberta today marks Universal Health Coverage Day, an annual opportunity to celebrate the World Health Organization’s continuing effort to ensure health care for everyone who requires it in every country of the world.
December 12 is the anniversary of the first unanimous resolution of the United Nations calling on the countries of the world to provide affordable, quality health care for their citizens.
The 2012 resolution defined universal health coverage as including all essential health services, including health promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.
Here in Alberta, while we are fortunate that Canada is a wealthy country with a tradition of public health care, it is extremely troubling that the Alberta Government has passed a law that will create a parallel private market for physicians.
This will threaten the continued existence of universal public health care in this province. It will result in longer wait times for citizens in an under-funded public system, higher up-front health care and insurance costs for those accessing private care, and huge profits for insurance corporations.
The hybrid system it creates will give a few Albertans better access to care at the expense of many more who must rely on the public option.
We must resist changes that deprive some Albertans of access to the full range of quality health services they require, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
