Customer Reviews

Profit Is Not the Cure: A Citizen's Guide to Saving Medicare

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There is change brewing in the Canadian health care system. Provincial governments seem to be interested in privatizing our socially funded medicare. Alberta, ever the guinea pig, already has private clinics, and Ontario, the overbearing elder sister, is hot on the trails. In her newest book Maude Barlow (with the support of the Council of Canadians) discusses the potential dangers of throwing in the proverbial towel on our (admittedly somewhat belagured) current system, and, more specifically, the irreversibility of privitization. There's no flirting with the concept, she suggests, if we let the system operate on a private, for profit level, we will lose the ability to go back to what we currently experience. Health care with profit in mind, simply put, is not health care with healing, or wellness in mind.
The book is successful because it raises the issues poignantly and fearlessly; it suggests some pertinent questions; and it proposes viable solutions. It's also being supported by a sincere tour in which Maude Barlow lectures and then allows for any questions or grievences a given community may have. It means a lot when an author stands very closely behind her work and opens herself up for criticism and questioning: in this instance it isn't courage as much as comprehension and worry. So what if it gets a little preachy, and sure whe wants to sell books, but it's evident she truly opposes the status quo.