The Privatization Conundrum

Privatization. Is it good or bad? I, for one, do not believe about complete privatization. On a large scale, it would be greatly beneficial, but today I am going to talk about a smaller scale. Alberta's healthcare, to be more specific. A recent article that I have read was measuring the pros and cons of privatization of healthcare. Before reading this article, however, I was greatly informed of how beneficial privatization of health care could be.

For starters, privatization would promote competition, which is the basis of our economy. Competition leads to good deals, which leads to an abundance of sales, which stimulates our economy. If health care was privatized, exactly this would happen. Competition would lead to better prices, with better options. As well, doctors and nurses would make significantly more money, because they are not being paid by the government.

However, on the flip side, there are many cons to privatized health care. First and foremost, it would not be the government's requirement to provide its citizens with free health care. This implies that we must pay for our health care. although this is not a big deal for many people, 11% of the Canadian population is under the line of poverty. This means that a significant amount of our population would likely not be able to afford health care.

Although this is an incredibly compelling argument, the Wildrose Party of Alberta is in complete disagreement. If you refer to the aforementioned article, their argument revolves around the privately owned hip and knee-replacement centre at Calgary's Health Resource Centre. The government wants this centre to become privately owned, but Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, claimed that the HRC provided "faster, better, cheaper service", and believes that the government should not be eradicating privatized health centres, but replicating them.

As you can see, there are many opposite opinions on this complex issue. As far as mine goes, I do not have a fixed opinion. I believe privatization of health care can be good, but too much privatization could potentially hinder rather than help. It is very hard to have a fixed opinion on topics as complicated and serious as this one, and I do not believe that one opinion is right. both opinions must be considered and acted upon, in appropriate moderation.