Well it has taken me a while, but as I promised before, I wanted to write a blog on health care in our province. With public consultations currently being undertaken around the province by the Ministers Advisory Committee on Health Care, lead by MLA Fred Horne, I thought this would be an appropriate time. Now I could dedicate a whole series of blogs or even write a book about public health care and the challenges that it faces in Alberta, Canada and across the world, however I want to take the opportunity to focus on something positive that can give us hope for the future.
What I hear from most Albertans is that they believe the current public health care system in Alberta can be summed up in three ways; the care within the system is great, access is terrible, and the growth rate of public expenditures is unsustainable. So the question is where do we go from here? Well the work done by the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Health Care has recommended that it was about time that Albertans talked about what they value inpublic health care and what principles should guide these values, and that all of this including modernizing and updating current health care legislation should be included in a new Alberta Health Act. Now I am not the type to get excited about more laws and legislation, however I have long been an advocate for greater public discussion and engagement on this issue, and, in fact, I had an indepth roundtable discussion within my constituency last fall; I see discussions like this as a positive step in improving the heatlh care system.
I also feel that it is positive because it is time to alk about what 21st century public health care looks like in Alberta. It may pain me to say it, but Tommy Douglas is a national icon because of his vision for public healthcare in Canada; however, a lot has changed since Tommy Douglas brought forward his vision – most notably, the age composition of our population. As one constituent put it to me at a public forum “we have not had a discussion lately (as a society) about what our expectations are regarding healthcare in our current environment and realities.” This discussion is not about the merits of public health care, but about what modern public health care looks like and what expectations we have as a society.
The list of issues that should and need to be debated are exhausting, and when I have the opportunity to I hope to dedicate more time on my blog to these issues as we go through the consultation phase to the debate phase of the new Alberta Health Act. However, when this is all said and done and the Alberta Health Act is passed, make no mistake this will be the health act of Albertans, who will own the values and principles of which will guide and inform every decision in the health care system moving forward. It is due for an inclusive and vigorous public discourse about the future of public health care.Only then may we set in stone the values and principles that emerge, and move forward with reforming and modernizing our system. Moreover, we must do so without the white noise generated from special interest groups and political opportunists that can stifle the much-needed talk about the modernization of our health care system.
Combining the outcomes of the healthy public discourse that is underwaywith a single AHS board that is just starting to get unwound from the clutter of regional health care governance, and a stable five year funding commitment by the government, Alberta will be in a prime position to lead the modernization and reform of public health in Canada. Stability and uniformity of purpose can go a long way in achieving what we as Albertans demand, the best performing public health care system in the country.My plea to all Albertans is get involved and let your voice be heard, this is YOUR Alberta Health Act, which will guide YOUR public health system for decades and generations to come.
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