Throughout these turbulent times - from the laundry workers strike in 1995 to the battles over Bill 11, the Mazankowski report and the Third Way, the Alberta Federation of Labour has been at the forefront of the fight to preserve public health care. Under our current Executive Council, the AFL has pledged to continue playing a leading role in the province-wide campaign to preserve quality health care and stop the spread of private, for-profit medicine.
Latest News:
- October 12, 2010 - "Friends of Medicare launches campaign to drop health law changes: Legal opinion commissioned by AFL says proposed changes are undemocratic" (press release)
- October 12, 2010 - "Message to Health Minister Zwozdesky: Don't Tear up the Laws!" (Call to Action)
- July 2010 - Report on Core Framework Health Care Legislation (Gwen J. Gray, Q.C., Chivers Carpenter LLP)
- October 2010 - Summary of "Report on Core Framework Health Care Legislation" (Shannon Phillips, AFL Staff)
- July 2010 - Submission to the Minister's Advisory Committee on Health (MACH) Final Report - Alberta Health Act
Summary
Alberta's health-care system has been under constant attack by successive Progressive Conservative governments.
Our province was the first to impose deep cuts to nurses and other health-care staff in the mid 1990s. The Klein government was the first provincial government to contract out support services and engage in other dangerous experiments with private health care.
The Conservatives have attempted to introduce private health care many times. They tried with Bill 37, with Bill 11 and with the Mazankowski Report. The Third Way was another attempt to introduce elements of American-style health care to Alberta.
Now, using the global recession as a smokescreen, the Stelmach government is playing the same game. Using flawed economic arguments, the Tories are claiming that health-care spending is out of control and that we must "tighten our belts" and cut spending.
Alberta Health Services is seeking a wage freeze from unionized workers, with the threat of job cuts and cuts to core services if this doesn't happen. More than 600 vacant positions have not been filled, putting a strain on the ability to deliver services, and more than 500 more positions may be lost to early retirement. Essential mental health beds have been closed at Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care costs in this country may be going up, but after adjusting for inflation and population growth, it expects the increase to be 2.5% this year, a lower rate than in previous years. Health care is expected to jump to 11.9% of Canada's Gross Domestic Product in 2009, up from an estimated 10.8% a year ago, but is still significantly lower than the 18% figure in the U.S.
In 2007, the latest year for which data is available, among 26 countries with similar accounting systems in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), per-capita spending on health care remained highest in the United States (US$7,290). The U.S. was followed by Norway (US$4,763), Switzerland (US$4,417) and Luxembourg (US$4,162). At about US$3,895 per capita, health care spending in Canada was similar to six other OECD countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, France and Germany.
In Alberta, the combined per-capita health spending by both government and privately (directly by citizens or through private insurance) totalled $6,072, still less than the spending level in the U.S. While our system covers all Albertans, the more expensive and less efficient U.S. system leaves more than 40 million without health insurance of with inadequate insurance.
Given that our hospitals are still recovering from the damage caused by a decade or more of austerity under Ralph Klein, it simply doesn't make sense to impose deep cuts when they're not really necessary.
Despite the fact that Alberta is facing a budget deficit, the sky is not falling. We have been conditioned by successive generations of right-wing politicians to panic whenever the word "deficit" is mentioned, but Alberta still has no debt and we won't be taking any on. All that's happening is that we're dipping into a rainy-day fund that was set aside for exactly this purpose. There is no crisis.
The government shouldn't hesitate to draw significant amounts from its $17 billion sustainability fund for the one or two years it might take for the province to ride out the global recession.
Almost every other government around the world agrees that public-sector spending should be maintained or increased to help their citizens weather the recession. But Alberta's Conservatives didn't get the memo - or they're allowing themselves to be unduly influenced by Danielle Smith and her fellow privatizers in the Wildrose Alliance party. If the Tories don't wake up, the cuts that they're planning will jeopardize our province's fragile economic recovery and inflict further pain on Alberta families who are already hurting as a result of job losses and pay cuts.
What can you do?
The AFL continues to work closely with Friends of Medicare (www.friendsofmedicare.org) and other defenders of public health care to prevent the creeping privatization of our medicare system. Friends of Medicare has launched a campaign called Wrong Way (www.wrongway.ca), where you can form Community Action Teams to fight to preserve health care, keep up to date on events and protests in your neighbourhoods, or get help organizing your own rallies or town-hall meetings. You can also sign a petition and get help writing letters and contacting your MLA, the Health and Wellness Minister and Premier.
