The Ben Mulroney Show - We have never paid more for Healthcare in this country, and gotten less bang for our buck

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

We have never paid more for Healthcare in this country, and gotten less bang for our buck If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At BC Children's Hospital, we're always learning from our patients through our life-changing research and with specialized training. We're the only dedicated pediatric hospital in BC, and we're constantly growing to better serve our patients. If you're looking for a career where learning and development are core to the culture, BC Children's Hospital is the place for you. Amazing people wanted must love kids. Apply now at jobs.bcchildrens.ca. I have said a number of times on radio that never before have we spent more money on our health care system, both in terms of raw dollars, or in terms of the percentage of the federal budget. In 2023, Canada spent $344 billion with a B on health care. That amounts to $8,400 per person per year. That's a lot

of money. And never before have our health care outcomes been so disappointing. And I say this with the utmost respect for all of our frontline healthcare workers, I think we all gained a new and deeper appreciation for them putting themselves in harm's way during the COVID crisis. And poll after poll after poll in generation after generation after generation. It's nearly unanimous that our health care system is a defining aspect of how we see ourselves as a nation. That's how important it is. It's a it's a government service that we view

as definitional. You know, we wouldn't say that about the post office. But we say it about our health care system. That's how much it means to us. We view it as part of our national identity. And so in my humble opinion, if it's that important, and it's that costly, then surely we should we should we should look at like what's wrong with it. And all options should be on the table and how to fix it. And so when I read a story that tells me that nearly 75,000 Canadians have died waiting for various types of health services from cancer treatment to MRI scans since 2018, I think it should light a fire under us and we should be willing to explore every option. I think I'm not an expert in healthcare. I'm more than would be. I'm more than willing to be told that I'm wrong about my perspective. But the perspective that I have currently is I feel that far too many of us get stuck

on the idea of the single payer when that to me is a means to an end and that end is. Affordable and reliable and world-class health care for all. I don't care how we pay for it. So long as what we're paying for is what I just described, like a world-class healthcare for all. And we shouldn't be afraid to explore everything in order to get to that. But at least 15,000 patients in Canada died from 2023 to 2024 while waiting for a wide range

of surgeries, procedures, even diagnostic scans, like heart operations, hip operations, cataract surgeries. for a wide range of surgeries, procedures, even diagnostic scans, like, and heart operations, hip operations, cataract surgeries. Now, the figure doesn't include Quebec, Alberta, Newfoundland, Labrador, and most of Manitoba. So those numbers would be even higher if we included everybody. So when I put this on my, my ex page, my Twitter page, someone sort of pushed back and said, oh, you're probably not factoring in population growth. So we looked into that. And I think I think my follower for,

for highlighting that we looked into that there are there were 764 hospitals in Canada in 1999, for a population of just over 30 million people, which amounts to, generally speaking, just under 40,000 Canadians per hospital. Today, in 2020, well, in 2023 rather, there are 1,017 hospitals for a population of 41 million people, which amounts to just over 40,000 Canadians per hospital. So it's a change of about seven,

almost 800 people. There's 800 more Canadians per hospital today. So it's an, I think that's a nominal change. I wouldn't say that it's certainly not a change in the right direction, but it's, it's, it's not that, that doesn't account for this. That doesn't account for this. That doesn't account for this.

And I look at like 7,500 people have died. 75,000 people have died. Those are taxpayers. Those are people who are paying into the system that is giving us these terrible outcomes. And again, I think we stop short of the radical changes that we need to be at least examining, at least debating. Because even if you start with a bad idea, it can lead to a good idea.

But we're so afraid of private health care encroaching on our public system. I don't want a bifurcated system. I don't want one system for the rich and wealthy and another one for the rest of us. But if you're not willing to whiteboard and blue sky this thing and say, all right, today there are no bad ideas. Today there are no bad ideas. Throw them all at me and we'll write them all down. That's how you

get to the best ideas. And and anyone who suggests that more money into the system is the answer is wrong. They are just wrong. That is a bad idea. Because we've been doing that for years, shoveling money into a health care system that is less and less reliable, that where wait times are leading to death times, and something's gotta give. I do believe that mass adoption of cutting edge AI solutions as it relates to checking people into an emergency room,

to filling out forms is one of the solutions. From what I've heard and learned from experts in this field, bureaucracy and red tape is choking the system. The amount of paperwork that doctors have to do, I think it's for every hour that a doctor spends with a patient, they have to do like three or four hours of paperwork. If I were smart and talented enough to become a doctor, I can promise you, the quality of my work and my desire to do that work would decrease precipitously in the face of

mountains, and days and weeks and months of paperwork. I didn't get into becoming a doctor to do paperwork. And it's leading to burnout and it's leading to burnout and is leading to people leaving the profession. It's it's it's leading to to go to other places where the paperwork is not so onerous. And then that's leading to a shortage of doctors and nurses. So there are immediate things that we can do. But unless we're willing to really have an honest conversation about what are we trying to get out of this system?

We want fewer people to die and we want and again, I'm not suggesting. I want to reiterate this. When I say that we get caught up on the single single payer thing, which is a means to the end. People think that's code for I want private medicine to come in. No, I'm just saying let's have the conversation because that's how you get to the better solutions. and your favorite trusted experts all under one roof. Are you kidding me? Every Thursday, watch heartwarming programs like an all new Extreme Makeover Home Edition at eight. Home at Five! We are so lucky to be a part of this.

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