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Ehealth
The Ontario Liberals' election platform makes many promises to improve mental health, but given their track record, it is hard to believe a word of it.
Last week, two health care stories in the news that got relatively little attention illustrated exactly what is wrong with the direction health care is taking in Ontario, under the leadership of its hapless Health Minister Eric Hoskins, and beleaguered Premier Kathleen Wynne.
As Eric Hoskins knows very well, infrastructure itself doesn't have much value. What has a lot of value is patient data. This type of data is a treasure trove for private businesses and would be worth a lot of money to them. Just look at how Facebook has been able to monetize the personal information it has stored on all its "friends."
I'm aware consent is a loaded term, and that's part of why I feel it's an important term to use in terms of personal information. There are many vulnerable people in the privacy space, and they're often ignored and even put at greater risk by the privileged who feel they have nothing to hide.
In case you think I'm asking you for more money for health care, I'm not. The $51 billion currently budgeted is enough, it just needs to be spent more efficiently. There will be significant immediate cost savings from cutting the bureaucratic bloats. But will this be enough to get you the election win you so badly desire in 2018?
These electronic health record databases will be hacked and sold. Unlike the dynamic balance in the case of a bank account compromise, your entire medical history will not change, and will always be valuable. Your medical information is already worth more than credit card data, so why in the world would our governments be racing to be putting this in a centralized place, creating a single point for hackers?
Our nation is often defined by our passion for hockey, our taste for beer, and our universal health care system. There is little question that Canada's hockey prowess endures and our beer remains cold. But our health care system? Overburdened, and totally ill-prepared to endure the perfect storm that lies ahead.
