Sometimes insufficient capacity and long wait times can be the result of a government's agenda.
Here in BC, we have (mandatory) auto insurance provided by a crown corporation with a monopoly. The neo-liberal government before the current more socialist leadership hated it and wanted desperately to privatize car insurance. The problem is that ICBC is dearly loved by most residents here. There is a playbook for this problem.
They appointed a fairly incompetent civil servant to run things, and also started raiding the fund, to the tune of billions of dollars.
After about a decade of this, the company was a mess and nearly broke. They were forced to raise rates. The premier characterized the situation as a "dumpster fire" and editorials started popping up arguing for privatization.
That government was defeated, and the new leadership sorted it all out. Within a couple of years, drivers in BC were getting cheques in the mail because ICBC was making too much profit.
There are powerful interests very interested in getting a piece of healthcare in Canada, and some of the shenanigans you see here smell a lot like a set-up to make things become broken enough that the voters will demand privatization.
Just for one example, in the last few years staffing agencies have been hiring away nurses by offering higher wages and then contracting them back to the health authorities at ~$130/hr. This has cost billions to taxpayers and lead to great resentment within the regular staff.
Here in BC, we have (mandatory) auto insurance provided by a crown corporation with a monopoly. The neo-liberal government before the current more socialist leadership hated it and wanted desperately to privatize car insurance. The problem is that ICBC is dearly loved by most residents here. There is a playbook for this problem.
They appointed a fairly incompetent civil servant to run things, and also started raiding the fund, to the tune of billions of dollars.
After about a decade of this, the company was a mess and nearly broke. They were forced to raise rates. The premier characterized the situation as a "dumpster fire" and editorials started popping up arguing for privatization.
That government was defeated, and the new leadership sorted it all out. Within a couple of years, drivers in BC were getting cheques in the mail because ICBC was making too much profit.
There are powerful interests very interested in getting a piece of healthcare in Canada, and some of the shenanigans you see here smell a lot like a set-up to make things become broken enough that the voters will demand privatization.
Just for one example, in the last few years staffing agencies have been hiring away nurses by offering higher wages and then contracting them back to the health authorities at ~$130/hr. This has cost billions to taxpayers and lead to great resentment within the regular staff.
Some folks somewhere allowed this to happen. Why?