By Gil McGowan, AFL Staff

EDMONTON – Premier Ralph Klein has acknowledged that his scheme to introduce more private health care in Alberta may actually cost taxpayers more money.

In an interview with Broadcast News February 15, 2000, Klein admitted, "there is some argument as to whether it (private health care) costs more or less." However, the Premier said he intends to push ahead with private health legislation because he remains convinced that privatization will help reduce waiting lists.

Friends of Medicare spokesperson Christine Burdett says the Premier’s comments mark a significant turning point in the debate over private health care in Alberta.

"This is the first time the Premier has acknowledged the mountains and mountains of evidence from around the world proving that private health care costs more," says Burdett. "Up until this point, the government was adamant that privatization would save money – but they’re finally realizing there just isn’t any evidence to support that position."

Burdett says the Premier’s comments are also significant because they undermine the government’s entire rationale for privatization in health care.

"Right from the beginning, the government said they would only proceed with their privatization scheme if it would lower costs and reduce waiting lists – those were the two criteria that the Premier himself said had to be met," said Burdett. "Now Mr. Klein is saying that private health care may end up costing more. In effect, he’s admitting in advance that his proposed private health bill will not achieve one of its stated goals. It makes me wonder why he wants to proceed with this bill at all."

Now that the weakness of government’s cost-savings argument has been revealed, Burdett says the public should turn its attention to the Premier’s promises about shorter waiting lists.

"All the available evidence shows that private health care leads to longer waiting lists, not shorter ones," says Burdett, pointing to the results of recent Consumers Association study on privatized cataract surgery in Alberta. The study shows that waiting lists for surgery are far longer in Calgary (where 100 percent of cataract procedures are performed in private clinics) than in Edmonton and Lethbridge, where between 80 and 100 percent of surgeries are still performed in public hospitals.

"The evidence speaks for itself – private health care has been a failure wherever it has been tried," says Burdett. "The fact that the government has been unable to produce any concrete evidence in support of private health is extremely telling. It proves the point that we at Friends of Medicare have been making for years now – namely that private health care doesn’t work and that privatization is not in the best interests of Albertans."