My colleague across the way said to elect Liberals. Maybe that would happen if bill 11 is inappropriate. But do we need an all-seeing omnipotent health minister from Ottawa to come along and say he does not think the motive behind the bill is good? Not in my books we do not.
I do not have forever, but I will talk about a couple of other innovations which I think are worth considering. These are for public consumption, to reject, think about, or not. This is not alliance policy. These are my thoughts on the issue.
What about thinking of a completely different way of delivering the money to individuals in Canada for health care services? What about a medisave account? I would equate this to an insurance policy on a car. We do not insure our cars for oil changes. We insure them for major catastrophes like an awful crash that would break us if it happened. We insure for the repair bills on a major issue.
What if we insured for catastrophic things in Canada? Instead of giving money to the governments to look after everything, what if we gave $100 to each patient in a medisave account? This would be for the regular run of the mill preventive things, regular checkups, a visit to the emergency room for suturing and whatnot. It would be the patient's responsibility. That first $100, which is a very arbitrary figure, would be the patient's responsibility. The person would not spend it if he or she did not need it. The government would allow the person to put those funds into retirement, but the person would be able to keep those funds in a medisave account for the future.
What would that do? That would make people think about what medical procedures cost in this country. Many do not know. Many do not know what an ultrasound for a newborn baby is worth today because they never ever get a bill for it. It is free, paid for by the taxpayer.
That would put a person in a position where, if they had had a cardiogram a year ago and had paid for it out of their medisave account, and they were told during their annual physical they needed a cardiogram again, they might ask whether they really did need it because it would eat up their medisave money. There would be a discussion as to whether or not that would be useful. I believe there is some degree of personal responsibility when it comes to the funding for our health care system.
That was the medisave account idea. It was a very brief overview and I admit not very thorough, but it is an idea.
I have a second idea. The threat of suit in Canada for nurses and doctors is a major cost driver. Somebody who comes into the office with a headache is often given procedures that are not really the best for looking after a headache. They are procedures that are designed to prevent a suit, prevent medical legal action if the individual ends up having more than a simple headache, for example a tumour. The medical legal system in this country is driving costs up. It is becoming more and more like the U.S. in terms of litigation.
In my first speech in the House many years ago I asked the health minister to address the issue of medical jurisprudence. I thought as a lawyer he would grab on to that. Of course, it would mean fewer lawyers, so maybe I understand now.
What principles do I think should guide the federal government on health care? First, I value our public system. I have practised in it and I know that it is a valuable system. But I think we have gone astray when we talk about American style two tier, because on this issue it is literally the wrong debate. Medicare is being used in most countries in the world. It is not being used in the U.S. Taxpayer funded medicare is not there.
When we compare ourselves, let us compare ourselves to similar medicare systems such as those in Europe, Asia or Scandinavia. Countries there have chosen some safety valves in addition to taxpayer funded medicare. Medicare is not falling apart. It is not going down the tubes. Ours would not either if we looked at some of those innovations.
The big principle is that we should remember the patient. Let us put the patient first. Let us stop putting the system first. If we did that in our deliberations here in Ottawa and across Canada, we would be much farther ahead.
The federal government has a role as a paymaster. It is so straightforward that the funding should be predictable. It should be obvious that it is going to medicare and it should be growing with our population growth. Our aging population is another issue. As a paymaster the federal government has a very specific role to play.
The health minister said he would play the role if the provinces played by his rules. I disagree with that. The current approach of threatening the provinces if they do not follow the health minister's rules to bring in health police to enhance the number of people wandering around the country trying to find breaks to the Canada Health Act, deeming private clinics as hospitals, have we ever heard a more legalistic view? Deeming. He is going to deem a private clinic as a hospital.
I say again that if we forget about imperilling the system and instead look at the perils to the patient, we will be better off.