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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Some forms of health care are more universal than others

Canadians lose out as Big Pharma rakes in profits, says letter writer
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Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. (News Bulletin file photo)

To the editor,

Re: Health care will be there when people need it, Opinion, Jan. 4.

While we Canadians are often envied abroad for our ‘universal’ health-care system, our health may soon-enough come second to profit maximization, in particular those insatiably amassed by the pharmaceutical industry.

Resultantly, we continue to be the world’s sole nation that has universal health care but no similar coverage of prescribed medication, however necessary.

Not only is medication less affordable, but other research has revealed that many low-income outpatients who cannot afford to fill their prescriptions end up back in the hospital as a result, therefore costing far more for provincial and federal government health ministries than if the medication had been covered.

Ergo, in order for the industry to continue raking in huge profits, Canadians and their health, as both individual consumers and a taxpaying collective, must lose out big time.

Also, I don’t believe it is just coincidental that the only two health professions’ appointments for which Canadians are fully covered by the public plan are the two readily pharmaceutical-prescribing psychiatry and general practitioner health professions. Such non-Big-Pharma-profiting health specialists as counsellors, therapists, naturopaths, etc., are not covered at all.

Frank Sterle Jr., White Rock


The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press Media or the Nanaimo News Bulletin.

Letters policy: Letters should be no longer than 250 words and will be edited. Preference is given to letters expressing an opinion on issues of local relevance or responding to items published in the News Bulletin. Include your address (it won’t be published) and a first name or two initials, and a surname. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters sent to the News Bulletin may also be published in the Ladysmith Chronicle.

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