Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Is this a case where the for-profit shops cherry pick the profitable procedures and leave the messy, un-profitable procedures for the public system to handle?
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Closer to the profitable customers go to private services while the un-profitable customers wait for public.
Ten people are in line for an MRI, the waiting line is 6 months.
Five require a whole battery of tests for a serious affliction.
Two are seniors on fixed income.
Three are young men with sports injuries, two of which are quite affluent.
If the last two guys go to a private clinic for the MRI (and value "jumping the line" by 6 months more than $1000) then the private business makes money, the tests are all of equal value to the customer, and the remaining 8 patients have a shorter wait time.
Emotionally it doesn't feel right that the sickest or those that have waited the longest should be "jumped" by the rich athlete that wants to keep playing hockey - but realistically these patients aren't worse off because of it.
And even if you hate the private clinics, these guys could just go to the States so all we're talking about is keeping the business in Canada.