I hope the government folks in Ontario get to read this article and particularly the comments from readers.  Now that Doug Ford. our conservative premier, has a majority government, he's advancing proposals to increase privatization.I'm surprised to see so many people who should know better touting these moves as "innovations" (Justin Trudeau) and dismissing those that are against opening that door as irrational scaredy cats (the CBC).It's very clear to many of us that allowing more privatization in health care  is not the solution to our healthcare problems.  Resources will be diverted from public to private and profit maximization will result in poor health outcomes.  Ford may insist that the costs (and therefore the profits to the providers) will all be paid out of the government health envelope, one can be reasonably doubtful about the long term sustainability of such a claim. The strategy to get the public's approval for such reforms is always the same: it's only be for minor interventions, will shorten wait times, and will increase services quality and availability.  Nothing could be further from the truth, as the American experience shows.Hopefully we won't go down that road.

I hope the government folks in Ontario get to read this article and particularly the comments from readers.  Now that Doug Ford. our conservative premier, has a majority government, he's advancing proposals to increase privatization.I'm surprised to see so many people who should know better touting these moves as "innovations" (Justin Trudeau) and dismissing those that are against opening that door as irrational scaredy cats (the CBC).It's very clear to many of us that allowing more privatization in health care  is not the solution to our healthcare problems.  Resources will be diverted from public to private and profit maximization will result in poor health outcomes.  Ford may insist that the costs (and therefore the profits to the providers) will all be paid out of the government health envelope, one can be reasonably doubtful about the long term sustainability of such a claim. The strategy to get the public's approval for such reforms is always the same: it's only be for minor interventions, will shorten wait times, and will increase services quality and availability.  Nothing could be further from the truth, as the American experience shows.Hopefully we won't go down that road.

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