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Our health-care system has a problem. Wait times are too long. Finding a family doctor is next to impossible. Emergency rooms are overflowing. We just don’t have enough physicians for our population, and Alberta’s recent announcements put us on course to make this problem significantly worse.

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As medical students dreaming of giving back to Alberta, we are scared for the future of our province.

First came the announcement of privately paid diagnostic imaging without a physician requisition — bound to make lines longer for those waiting for public tests and treatments as the health system is forced to investigate every harmless lump or bump found on a paid scan.

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Then came Bill 11, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, paving the way for a parallel private-pay health-care system where money buys preferential access. Doctors will be able to opt out of medicare entirely or — maybe worse — “flexibly” arrange their schedules to accommodate both private and public care.

This government has a clear agenda to privatize health care, and they are showing no signs of slowing down.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a push for two-tiered........

© Edmonton Journal