Week of Jan. 28-Feb 4, 2002
Short term pain will create longer term pain…Talk of private hospitals, higher premiums and slashed health care coverage at last week’s meeting of Canada’s heath care ministers has Canadians worried about the future of universal health care. SFU adjunct professor Tom Koch, an expert on health care administration and issues, warns slashing services and medical coverage won’t amount to short term pain for long term gain. He says it won’t lead to a healthier economy or government coffers. "It’s often more costly to cut back on health care than go for efficiencies in the current vein," says Koch. "Failure to provide medications and other assistance for chronic or post-operative patients will result in a greater number of expensive emergency room visits, and admissions for complications. Privatization carries a heavy cost too. Downloading responsibility to private companies means at least a 20 percent bump in cost of service." Koch recently authored Scarce Goods: Justice, Fairness and Organ Transplantation, a new book that argues the alleged arcity of dollars in health care is based on decisions that balance profit against service.
Tom Koch, 604-714-0348, tokoch@attglobal.net
Deciding where the axe should fall…The speed at which the government is shaving and reshaping its civil service is provoking a lot of debate about where the axe is falling. SFU business professor Aidan Vining, an expert on government efficiency and business strategy, says the government had little choice but to target its civil service. Over the next three years, a third of its 11,700 jobs will be axed. "The provincial government is very labour-intensive," notes Vining. "So the only way it can reduce costs is to reduce people. The previous government certainly added a lot of net new jobs. The only other major category is direct transfers to people, for example welfare payments, but they are even harder to cut." Vining also has some thoughts on the rationale behind axing jobs at courthouses, in the ministry of education, and in transportation.
Aidan Vining, 604-291-5249, 604-291-3789, aidan_vining@sfu.ca
The referendum and beyond…With public attention focused on measures the provincial government is taking to shore up B.C.’s economy, the state of native land claim negotiations is very much in the background. However, a provincial referendum on the province’s aboriginal land claims treaty negotiations is around the corner. While the date has yet to be set, a series of lectures co-sponsored by SFU’s centre for Canadian Studies and faculty of arts is aimed at helping people answer 16 questions on the referendum ballot. Miles Richardson, chair of the B.C. Treaty Commission and Philip Steenkamp, the provincial government’s deputy minister of treaty negotiations, will be speaking on negotiating issues and the status of current treaty negotiations, on Friday, Feb. 1, 7-9 p.m. at SFU’s Harbour Centre campus. Admission is free, but seating is limited and reservations are required: 604-291-5100.
Susan Jamieson-McLarnon, media/pr, 604-291-5151
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