Health Care in Canada: Universal Health Care...Canada's Competitive Advantage

While we often hear about how taxation levels affect a corporation’s ability to compete in the global marketplace, we rarely hear about a major advantage that Canadian businesses have over their U.S. counterparts: universal health care.

Canadian businesses clearly have a major advantage, because most of their employees’ medical costs are covered by our universal public health care system. And though many pay for extended coverage for services like dental care and pharmaceuticals, the costs aren’t anywhere close to what U.S. companies must absorb.

Still, it seems that many Canadian business leaders don’t realize that a profit-driven system is not the cure for Canadian health care. The challenge is now to convince business leaders to fight the incursion of for-profit health care in Canada. After all, it’s in their best interest.

That’s why the Council of Canadians has just launched a new campaign to spread the message that public health care offers Canadian businesses and citizens a true competitive advantage. Best Kept Secret: Canada’s Health Care Competitive Advantage will reach out to small and medium-sized businesses, community groups and other local organizations to encourage them to fight to protect and enhance public health care in Canada.

Representatives from more than 30 Council of Canadians’ chapters and coalition partners have selected public speakers who will be participating in training sessions in Kelowna, Vancouver, Nanaimo, St. Catharines, Saint John, Moncton, Charlottetown, Tatamagouche, Halifax, St. John’s, Edmonton and Calgary over the next few months. Across the country, presenters will be equipped with a specialized speech, PowerPoint presentation and extensive resource guide that they can then take into their communities.

For Canadian businesses, and especially the small and medium-sized companies, the only logical choice is to demand that the Canadian government maintains a strong public universal insurance program, and non-profit delivery of health services. It is in all of our interests to ensure that health care delivery and insurance remain to as large an extent as possible in public or non-profit hands.

Excerpts from PROFIT Is Not The Cure and The Council of Canadians.

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