That's why you can't get great things like the health care system you have. Once again, we are in danger. This is the result of poor management, and the only thing people seem to be scratching their heads at is that change means turning to "American-style healthcare."
None of this is true, of course. There are many single payment systems around the world that cost less and give better results than Canada's, but most people, including the media, believe that trying to change or innovate is more than just using a credit card and seeing results. You seem to think that it means to See a doctor or surgery.
"No, no, no," Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Thursday when asked if patients would have to pay for medical services out of their own pocket.
We are being asked to believe that we are in a ridiculous season in Ontario and have a personnel crisis so bad that the system is collapsing, but because we have a world class system, Shouldn't change in any way except put more people in. And money. Neither is true. A world-class system that doesn't fall apart when summer vacation schedules go against ridiculous state-imposed rules regarding COVID exposure.
But that's where we stand, and nobody butSunpays hospital CEOs and other senior management I didn't ask why. $500,000 and $850,000 a year if you can't even schedule your staff properly. But hey, it's a world-class system, so don't you dare question it or endorse any kind of innovation. are shouting to privatize the system.
Jones made it clear that trying to solve the current staffing shortage problem meant that all options were on the table, but with the exception of the Ontario health card, people said it didn't include paying medical bills.On Thursday, Jones was inundated with questions about whether there would be a two-tier system or user fees.
She didn't get along.
Health is the biggest file for any local government and requires a steady and dispassionate communicator who can show empathy. That's not what we have now with Minister Jones, who is good at delivering the type of cut-and-dry answers she provided as Attorney General about how police and prisons work.
It will be a long and bumpy road for the Ford government if she doesn't learn how to sound empathetic soon. The style turns a blind eye to the public, and it loses its political proposition.
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Expanding it to include simple surgeries currently outstanding in hospitals that do not have solutions to hospital problems is debatable. Probably not, but there's a real question whether Jones can communicate that. Asked Thursday about more private offerings of public services, she cited the example of a dentist.
The dentist was not paid by the public system and, when pressed, appeared to be unregistered with her.
We need to make a difference in health and innovate in health. We need to learn from other jurisdictions with single payment systems that deliver better results, but also ministers who can effectively communicate this. Minister Jones has just taken this job, the largest branch of state government. We should all give her time to learn The File. It will quickly burst into flames or burn up the government's ability to bring about the kind of change we desperately need in broken systems.
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