et

young peonte appear to ha
_ This is.one of the findings o

of their own. And it's hardly. surprising ‘that
the recession -- with its harsh financial reper-
cussions.on so many business .and family
situations -- has seen a dramatic increase in
the number of people seeking such: aid. .
jit normal times. the increasé in the LSS.
caseload. was traditionally between six and
eight per cent‘a year. In 1982/83, however,
demands on the Society's services soared by
iting 33% in the criminal area and by |
27% for family ‘court cases and civil litiga-
tion. . ¥

Unha ppily, ° these exceptional . increases
coincided with ‘the :1982 restraint program.
which slashed Victoria's grant to the Society

_ and left:-:this April it, with a deficit of some
$1.9 million.

Even if.the government pays off that debt,
the minimum 1983/84. budget level set for
the Society would still result in an estimated
deficit of $850,000 by next April. But if Vic-
toria hangs tough, drastic cuts in the

_ Society’s'services will be unavoidable.

Should that happen, it would mean that
many people will face court action
unrepresented -- or be denied their day in
court altogether = tesa because bared lack—

ele.

their case.

Putting a. price | tag on. justice can: only de-
“«mean the:system‘and make a mockery. of the
» theory that all are equal before the law.

equated 1
public sector to the. Jatvclent of the: type of.
- action being carried out in Poland. That
‘of absolate garbage does absolutely: nothing |
na to give anyone ‘any confidence in the leader- “
- ship‘of those hospital employees. Some peo- r
ple should think before they © talk. 4

i sunday

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lead to Baralysis of com-

From the B.C. Police
Commission Newsletter

The Greater Vancouver
survey also indicates other
anomalies in citizens’

perceptions of crime in this 3
region. Most felt that crime -.
was increasingly in Greater -

Vancouver, but almost as.
many felt that crime.in their
own * neighborhood had
decreased. The elderly, both

“men cand. women, have the
greatest’ fear-of crime but are

the least ‘likely to be vic-
timized. Also, persons with
incomes over $30,000 haye
higher victimization rates,
both as to personal property
and personal assault, than all
lower income groups, yet the
high income group expresses
the least fear of victimiza-
tion.

Police forces have an in-

terest in the Simon Fraser -
studies because there exists -

however difficult it may be
to qualify - a proper fevel of
fear of.crime for any com-
munity. Too little fear of
crime leads to complacency
and encourages wrongdoers.

However, exaggerated fear

of crime:has been shown to

AT THE. MOMENT Wasa
- Health... Minister”. ‘Monique’

Begin - js: supervising | the

preparation of.a draft: docu-
d changes
to the legislation - governing :
the Medicare : program in.

ment ‘on pro

Canada. ‘Apparently, the end
of the legislation is to make
it difficult or impossible for
the provinces to permit the
growth of ‘extra billing and
the imposition of user fees.
Extra billing, of course, is
the situation where | your
family doctor. can. bill you

. above the rate established by

the: Medicare. program for
the service ‘rendered. User

‘fees arise where the doctor
. and/or the hospital are part-

ly compensated by a direct
payment by the patient.

The existence of extra bill-
ing and user fees in some
provinces and the thought
that, the practice might
become more widespread
has produced a predictable
reaction, The federal
government even dragged
out Justice Hall to remind us
that health care is a right and
not a privilege, that there
should be no extra billing,
there should be no user fees,
that health care is too impor-
tant to be left to economics
and that, in general, there
has to be free and
unrestricted access to health
care. .

While all of this has a plea-
sant ring to it and the good

An answer to a. ‘Key: ques-

“tion of such surveys: “How
>. Safe do. you’ feel walking
; ‘shone 1 in your F neighborhood

‘forthe poor. aia . | studies pein ‘made by -suryeys - ‘have ‘been’ con- _ Wh
- poor. raser Iniversity. The pro ; .
The LSS exists to provide legal a assistance. th s liciti ducted. 7
for those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer ¢ Solicitor General of Canara,

lowest in young males ‘and,

. increases with age ‘to reach

its highest level at ages. past
60. The pattern for. females

’ is slightly different. -Young
- women have a high degree of

apprehension of the danger

-of crime. This apprehension

diminishes in women im thier
middle years but then in-
creases sharply: again in
females over 60:

Responses received byline
survey team also indicate

H.. that the higher the degree.of

- education and the higher the
family income, the less: the
~. apprehension of becoming a
“victim of crime...

As might. be expected,
: wh

_ intentions are: admirable,

there’ is considerable

evidence to.suggest that the

road ‘toa functioning «and
adequate health care system

is not payed with good inten-
tions, -

‘Take, «for. -exaniple, the
British ‘case where. since the
establishment of. the . Na-
tional Health Care Service in

Noel .

Wright |
on

vacation .

1946 the quality ‘of ‘health

care has steadily
deteriorated. What. has
arisen in the United

Kingdom is a two-tier health
care system within which
those who can afford to pay
the cost of both opt out of
the National Health Care
Service to buy their medical
services from private doctors
and private hospitals,

The reason people in the
U.K. are opting out, of
couse, is, that, while pro-
viding a basic health protec-
tion system, the National
Health Care Service does not
‘provide what we in Canada

fegrity of

ear) Keates so

would’ regard adequate
medical treatment.. -

The nature of the problem
at the moment i in health care
delivery is that universal ac-
cess without fees of any sort
has produced,
understandably, an almost
unlimited demand u the

‘system. As the unlimited de-

mand collides with | the
limited amount of moncy
available within the govern-
ment bodget, the inevitable
consequences is cutback and
a reduced supply of medical
services - long waiting times
for operative procedures and
a general overloading of the
system.

Allowing doctors and
hospitals to charge for their
services would have two cf-
fects. First, it would casuc
people to more carefully
consider whether, in fact,
they need medical attention.
Secondly, it would make
available more resources to
the system. Most important-
ly, allowing extra billing and
user fees would retain the in-
the existing
medical care system, instead
of. producing a_ paralicl
private system, such as has
occurred in the United
Kingdom.

If there is an attempt by
goverment to artificially put
a ceiling on'the valuc of
medical care. services, then
the quality of the service
delivered will reflect that
ceiling. Hf, on the other

_ investigation,”

° 5
must be a matter of further

the research
team notes. .

,

yah Detlef ' cat _
' 9
was p _ a * , * a » oe.
a ere reirees oe ee .
yoy ay . ae

hand, there is flexibility to
price medical services in the
same way that other pro-
ducts are priced in the
marketplace, we can all
make our own decisions

- about the value we place on

medical services. Those who
argue that allowing user fees
and extra billing will make

medical care the preserve of

the rich, are ignoring the
evidence from other coun-
tries that the alternative may
be to reduce the quality of
health care available to
everybody. As in Churchill's
famous remark: “Provide for
an cqual distribution of
misery.”

Many of the technological

advances and comforts
which are. now available to
those. of even the most
modest. incomes, .were
developed initially for those
with high incomes and have
become available to the
masses only because they
were developed for a high
priced market. The same is
true of medical care services
- if there is no incentive to
produce excellence then ex-
cellence simply will not be
achieved.

(Dr. Watker is Director of
the Fraser Institute, a
Vancouver-based economic
think tank.)