Canada

Allegations that the United Conservative Party government pressured Alberta Health Services to accept exorbitant contracts to operate chartered surgical facilities in Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge have dominated the news in Alberta since February.

Former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos’s allegation that she was fired for scrutinizing these contracts has created a scandal dubbed “CorruptCare” by the NDP Opposition.

Rather than being an isolated incident, the CorruptCare scandal represents the result of the contracting out and hollowing out of public health care in Alberta.

Whether it’s chartered surgical facilities, privatized laboratory services or contract nursing agencies, repeated instances of introducing the profit motive to the provision of public health-care services show that privatization tends to increase health-care costs.

And why wouldn’t it? Corporations exist to maximize profit, not to provide public services.