Meili Says New Saskatoon MRI Clinic Won’t Solve Wait List Woes
[Ed. Note: This article, from a major western Canadian newspaper, reads like something out of your worst Bernie Sanders nightmares. In a city with a population of only 273,000 people, there are over 10,000 people waiting in line for an MRI. The government’s ‘brilliant’ solution was to allow for-profit clinics to charge for an MRI only so long as they agreed to provide one for “free” to a patient on the public waiting list (since nothing in life is actually ‘free’, they’re apparently pretending that doesn’t simply DOUBLE the cost for the paying customer). The socialist (see: NDP – a party that self-describes as “democratic socialism” according to their Wikipedia page) politician in opposition actually had the audacity to blame the 10,000-strong waiting list on the for-profit clinics by saying, “patient pay drives up demand without actually increasing medical need […] it actually brings up the wait list instead of bringing it down.” Yes, he actually said that. In his mind, the way to shrink the waiting lists is to close the private clinics that spend 50% of their resources treating public patients. To say that ‘medicare for all’ is an evil idea being shoved down your throat isn’t quite accurate. It’s actually a suppository. Bend over, America. Here it comes. Leave your thoughts in the comment section.]
by Zak Vescera
Regina Leader Post
The opposition says a ‘failed’ government program is the real root of ballooning wait times for diagnostic tests.
The Saskatchewan government is opening a new MRI clinic in Saskatoon even as the Opposition NDP continues to hammer a controversial MRI program, which the opposition says is the real root of ballooning wait times for diagnostic tests.
The province awarded a $14 million contract to Mayfair Diagnostics, a Calgary-based diagnostics company that also operates two private clinics in Regina, to open a new “community” clinic in Saskatoon.
Government says the long-promised private facility will ease pressure on the public waiting list — which stood at over 10,000 people in June 2019 compared to roughly 5,000 four years earlier — by bringing another MRI machine to Saskatoon.