Is This What We Have To Look Forward to With Privatized Healthcare?

[Fiona59]

http://www.aupe.org/news/three-near-misses-in-one-day-as-replacement-workers-drive-through-picket-line-says-aupe/

The owners of private LTC facilities are paying upto 30% less than they are provincially funded for. So where is the money going? Certainly not the LPNs, NAs, and other staff who keep these for profit facilites going.

Is this what the future of healthcare in Canada will look like if privatization take place?

http://www.aupe.org/news/park-place-illegally-using-temporary-foreign-worker-in-strike-at-hardisty-care-centre-aupe/

But hey, a business owner has to make a profit.

[RN58186]

Some small communities here are losing their LTC centres. Residents are being forced to move away from the community they have lived in all their lives to a place where they may not know anyone or where family might not be able to get to for a visit. Disgraceful I think.

And as for single rooms, well, in my Mom's facilty they recently turned a number of private roomes into semi-privates "on a temporary basis". So they are trying to cram more people than ever into these facilities. But that is another one of my pet peeves.....

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

It's totally inexcusable for workers to be paid less because they work for a private facility. I can see this continuing, and I'm glad they picketed.

[Fiona59]

That's just it, the private corporations have never accounted for the unpaid money. They are getting funded at AHS hourly wage rates and the staff are getting up to 30% less. Where did the money go?

Oh, wait they have to pay upkeep on the grounds and make a profit.

I know people have to work to live but why would you accept a job at a place that paid so much less?

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Recently, someone at work mentioned that there was news of CEO's at AHS who were fired due to large expense accounts. That's where the money goes...into the wallets of CEO's. While the workers struggle to make ends meet and break their backs doing so. Nursing is going to revolt if this continues. At the moment, we don't have the upper hand, but someday this will change.

[nursel56]

I lived and woked in the States for many, many years. Trust me, private doesn't equate to better quality.

Not to barge into the discussion here, but the above is true, and it's also true that it is rare that anyone's healthcare is paid for without a third-party payer of some sort, and there is no accountability built into our system at present.

There are those who advocate for a widespread incentive system in the form of varying premiums based on documented lifestyle improvements, or maintenance of same, but I'll go ahead and predict it will never happen.

It surprises me that Canada is even considering this, to be honest.