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I have been researching the private vs. public healthcare system and am unsure of what to think with my findings. I was lead to believe that private healthcare is wrong and that we should do everything that we can to maintain public care. I believe that everyone is entitled to a good physician and the best care possible. I have talked with a few people from the US with horror stories of not getting proper care or seeing people die needlessly over union issues. All of the articles that I have found so far are raving about how private care would be beneficial. For example, the current healthcare system is so overloaded that someone cannot have a surgery until it is life-threatening which means that "anyone who is not going to die must wait" (Dr. Javer). With private healthcare, would it not lessen the workload on the public system?...would it not make it so that people who can not afford to pay their way become closer to the top of the waitlist? If people can and want to pay for their care, why don’t we let them? It takes away from the cost of society and "people are entitled to life, liberty and security...individuals should be entitled to use their own resources to seek alternatives" (Dr Godley). There are currently over 90,000 people waiting for surgery, there has to be an alternative. Also, would the idea of paying for care cut down on the massive overuse of free care?
I have heard that the "good" Doctors and nurses would go to private care because that is where the money is, but I certainly never started nursing for the money, I have made nearly the same amount as a new grad since I was 16 years old. The only credible information that I could find about the downfalls of private care came from the BC Nurses Union and it stated that "waiting lists in public facilities go up, not down" (www.BCNU.org). I have a hard time understanding this because what can be more than 100% of patient care aside from a growing population? They also say that because people are paying for the hour, quality of care goes down because the patients only pay for the skills, not the emotional support. Can one not give emotional support while performing a skill? I know that I have meaningful conversations with patients when doing such things as a dressing or even changing an IV. My most memorable and meaningful memory is when I was a first year student and I gave my first enema...my patient cried, I was embarrassed but we had a moment that I can not describe, then I cried. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. If your heart is in the right place, is anything possible?

This is what I have read, learned and lived (in my two years as a student). I may be way off course and nieve to the “real world”, and am welcome to that idea. Please let me know your thoughts, its how I learn.