MORGAN: Premier Smith needs support to break the healthcare monopoly

Opposition parties, union-based activist groups and others reliant on the failing public healthcare monopoly are clutching their pearls in rage today, because Premier Danielle Smith has dared to consider adding competition into the management of hospitals.Smith didn’t even talk about private provision of care and she certainly didn’t explore the realm of having patients paying for services. She simply mused at a townhall meeting about potentially replacing Alberta Health Services (AHS) management in some hospitals by using Covenant Health.Covenant Health is a Catholic-based organization that already manages several large hospitals in Alberta. Expanding their reach isn’t a controversial move and it’s not as if they don’t already have experience and resources in the field.The opposition to Premier Smith’s ideas are purely partisan. No matter what Smith may propose when it comes to healthcare, the NDP and their union masters along with legacy media outlets will paint it as catastrophic and an attack on public healthcare.Anybody who has had the unfortunate experience of visiting Alberta’s hospitals lately can see the system is failing. Emergency rooms are overloaded while patients are literally left in gurneys in the hallways waiting for space to free up in a ward. It’s not for lack of funding that hospitals are overwhelmed. Spending on healthcare is increased every year yet conditions continue to deteriorate. People are literally dying while awaiting care. And it isn’t unique to Alberta. The system is failing citizens in every province in Canada including NDP B.C., where the closure of emergency rooms has become common.While the left is quick to point out the challenges and failures of the current system, they won’t abide by any other proposed solution to the problem beyond throwing more money at it. After all, the status quo serves the NDP well. Nurses in Alberta often make over $100,000 per year as “part-timers” gaming the overtime system. One nurse even managed to make over $500,000. It’s a pretty good racket and it’s not surprising that those taking part in it don’t want to see any management changes. AHS is a massive and bloated bureaucracy with more than 100,000 employees. Over 90% of those employees are unionized so it’s not hard to see why AHS won’t do anything to increase efficiency or reduce overtime costs.Premier Smith must be supported as she tries to break AHS's stranglehold over Alberta healthcare. In breaking up AHS into separate divisions, she is on the right track. She recognizes the bureaucratic monster putting Albertans at risk. That monster and those who profit from it won’t give up easily though.Smith should go farther than just putting management into the hands of Covenant Health. She should put the management of some hospitals out to open tender for private companies to bid on. The companies could be compensated based on success in positive patient outcomes along with efficient expenditure of funds. Hospitals need innovative approaches and the long-established AHS administrators are incapable of it. Of course, the NDP and their supporters will scream bloody murder. So what? They would imply the world was ending if Smith even proposed changing the brands of toilet paper used in hospital bathrooms. If Smith is going to be blasted no matter what she does, she should stop even considering what her opponents have to say. Move with determination and speed to get the job done.Hopefully, Premier Smith has some irons in the fire when it comes to facilities in general. There are some innovative ideas out there that just need courageous political leadership to get done.The energy sector has realized that partnering with First Nations on projects tends to render the environmentalists silent. It’s hard to make a case to shut down a project that is benefiting First Nation citizens living in poverty. The same method in shutting down opposition to new projects can be applied to healthcare.It’s already happening. On the Enoch Reserve just outside Edmonton, construction is well underway on a private facility which will provide over 3,000 orthopedic surgeries in the public system every year. If that facility was being constructed anywhere else you can rest assured Naheed Nenshi along with union groups such as the “Friends of Medicare” would be screaming bloody murder. Since the new clinic will be on a reserve, the silence is deafening.Alberta should be partnering with First Nations across the province and exploring how new, private facilities can be constructed to serve the public system. Everybody would win. Aside from those making big bucks maintaining the status quo that is.The hysteria over Premier Smith’s proposal to shift some hospital management to Covenant Health is little more than a tempest in a teapot. Let’s hope Premier Smith remains steadfast and works on bringing in even more substantial reforms. Give the unions something worth being upset about while giving Albertans suffering while awaiting care something to cheer about..This is what the Western Standard is up againstThe Trudeau government is funding lies and propaganda by directly subsidizing the mainstream media. They do this to entrench the powerful Eastern, woke and corrupt interests that dominate the political, social and economic institutions in Canada. Federal authorities are constantly trying to censor us and stop us from publishing the stories that they don’t want you to read. Ottawa may weaponize our taxes and police against us, but we’ve got a powerful ally on our side.You. Free men, and free women. We need you to stand with us and become a member of the Western Standard. Here’s what you will get for your membership:Unlimited access to all articles from the Western Standard, Alberta Report, West Coast Standard, and Saskatchewan Standard, with no paywall. Our daily newsletter delivered to your inbox. .Access to exclusive Member-only WS events.Keep the West’s leading independent media voice strong and free.If you can, please support us with a monthly or annual membership. It takes just a moment to set up, and you will be making a big impact on keeping one the last independent media outlets in Canada free from Ottawa’s corrupting influence.

MORGAN: Premier Smith needs support to break the healthcare monopoly

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