The election campaigning has begun and the three main federal political parties

have hit the campaign trail to discuss the major issues. One that will be hotly debated is health care, because that’s one issue that affects all Canadians.

The belief that access to universal health care is a free ticket to a self-indulgent lifestyle should become an antiquated idea.

The public health care system in Canada is wounded and in serious need of rehabilitation. Throwing more money at a system in crisis is not the answer. Ignoring the root problems will only make matters worse. Critics say the system will eventually bankrupt the country or die a long, slow death, which it appears to be doing.

Some pundits believe the answer lies in splitting the system in two, one pay-for-service and one government-funded.

Advocates for a two-tier system are often maligned and attacked in the press by different levels of government who appear to want to uphold the social agenda of free access to health care for all Canadians.

In November 2005, two outspoken doctors in favour of private health care, Dr. Brian Day and Dr. Mark Godley, were criticized for organizing a conference that addressed the issue of privatized health care. According to Vancouver’s 24-hour news service, the B.C. Health Coalition wanted keynote speakers to refuse to attend the conference because discussing private health care options would undermine the public system.

Squashing public debate is not the answer. If an open exchange of ideas is not permitted, our entire democratic system will be undermined, and that has far-reaching ramifications, starting with the unraveling of democracy.

There are strong emotions on both sides of the debate, but emotions won’t help find a solution to the very real problem of a sick healthcare system.

Canada was once revered globally for its health-care system, but with the growing problems our ranking as a world leader in health care, is slipping. The Fraser Institute report on health care in 2005, says the Canadian healthcare model is inferior compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries that have found solutions by combining the public system with private alternatives.

Radical thinking is required, and it may be time to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. One has to wonder how a system developed with good intentions became the beleaguered system we have today.

What would Tommy Douglas, the father of the Canadian health care system, think of the state of public health care today?

This ambitious Saskatchewan politician saw a real need for a health-care system that could serve even the poorest of Canadians. As a socialist, he believed that everyone, regardless of income, had a basic right to health care.

Douglas always believed that preventive medicine was the key to keeping people healthy, and I think it is prevention that is a key idea to focus on in looking for ways to improve the current overburdened system.

I am an advocate of a hand up, not a hand out, when it comes to social policy. I believe this also a key ingredient when trying to develop social ideals in a capitalist environment.

The radical idea I have, is not that radical, if you look at the inroads of reform that have happened to other social programs such as welfare and employment insurance. What I’m suggesting is a public-access health care system with some individual responsibility attached.

The welfare system in Canada was reformed with the idea that individuals using the system would need to work toward self-sufficiency, advocating an idea of individual responsibility for receiving assistance.

I think the same philosophy can be used for health care, and this is where I’d throw the baby out with the bathwater. Access to health care should also include some responsibility on the part of the individual.

The responsibilities of the individual should include, that people live a healthy active lifestyle, and do everything in their power to be healthy.

The investment of a society working on staying as healthy as it can would help save the resources for those who are sick from circumstances beyond their control.

There is enough documentation and studies to prove that lifestyle choices do affect our overall health, and it is time that people start to understand that their choices are affecting our health care system.

I believe that health care in Canada is in such dire straits because it is having to treat people who choose to smoke, drink too much, eat too much, and lead sedentary lives as couch potatoes sitting in front of TV’s and computers.

A system that concentrates on preventing the poor choices and behaviours will, in time, no longer have to repair the damages caused by such behaviour.

If we developed a health care system that was based on preventive medicine, which has been proven to be less expensive in the long run, for example, than the cost of bypass surgery for an entire population, it is something that should be considered.

It appears that every level of government is ignoring the wisdom of the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The school system no longer requires physical education throughout a child’s schooling. Children are becoming obese at an earlier age, in greater numbers, than at any other time in history. Still the warning bells are not signaling that a serious overhaul is needed.

If childhood obesity is on the rise, the answer is not to pour money into more research on developing medicine for childhood diabetes that arises as a direct result of overweight children. The answer is to attack the cause of obesity.

Smokers need to quit smoking. It has been proven ad nauseam, but do smokers care? Why should they — what are the consequences? Smokers continue to smoke, in the face of all the data that proves it’s harmful, and under the current system, if they require cancer treatments or a lung transplant, it is available. Why would they quit? I have heard more than one smoker say it’s their right to continue smoking, because tobacco taxes help pay for health care.

The problem of sustaining a health-care system with a societal belief that it is a right to over-indulge because there is a safety net that enables this behaviour is, I believe, the situation Canada faces today.

Universal health care must highlight the benefits of preventive medicine in order to be successful, and it is exactly the benefits of prevention that are not fully recognized in the current system.

The system is overtaxed in solving the health problems of a very sick society. Cancer, diabetes and heart disease are on the rise and the solution is not in the invention of a new procedure or a new wonder drug. It is in finding ways of stopping the rise of such diseases before it takes hold,

Yes, I am blaming society’s bad habits for creating a greater stress on the system. I think we, the users of health care, really need to step up to the plate and share in the responsibility. Ignoring that it’s our own selfish behaviour has caused some of the problems the system has been trying to combat.

Radical change is definitely needed. This may require a conscientious shift in the thinking of most Canadians, including the policymakers in Ottawa.

The government also has to embrace change by encouraging open discussion of different ideologies and accepting that status quo is not a solution. It appears to me, that it is extremely counter-productive to dismiss the ideas of others simply because it undermines the current health care system.