Health care getting less free

Many people think that Canada has free healthcare. Yes and no. Canada has universal healthcare which means we, technically, don't deny anybody the right to basic health services- but we sure do pay for it. And a recent report shows that in the last 25 years we've been paying more for it.

Our taxes are supposedly paying the cost to run this universal healthcare system, but the government has been offloading this reposnsibility for years. What does this amount to at the end of the day? "Canadians spent $452 per capita on health care in 2007, compared to $222 in 1981, in real terms" and, more importantly, it means people having less ability to maintain their health.

This problem is compounded by precarious work employment that reduces workers' ability to bargain for benefits. Instead of great health plans, workers are taken in by corporate stocks and assets in the company in which they work. In other words, workers are invested in the success of the company they work for instead of invested in the health of themselves and their family. Unionization, which has fought to secure rights and benefits for workers, is on the way out. The de-unionization is a problem caused by a few factors: we are seeing the end of the manufacturing era in the first world; we are seeing an embracing of the neoliberal "free market" society; and, due to the latter and to some degree transformed because of the former, we have a sudden stigmatization of what it means to be a union-worker. This all culminates into bad news for the regular Joe, which is upwards of 90% of us. Very few of us live off the interest of the millions of dollars in our bank account. We must work for our subsistence and shelter. and as we are paying more and more out of our pockets for the basics, like healthcare, our standard of living diminishes.


Let's fight for our rights, people. Bring back a Healthcare system that actually takes care of our health.