Alberta’s health care is being stripped down and sold for parts, and private medical interests are circling like buzzards. Not content with simply dismantling public health care in Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has been caught red-handed using contracts with private health care providers to give payouts to her friends.
This came to light after Smith’s UCP government fired Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former CEO of Alberta Health Services (AHS). Mentzelopoulos says that she was fired because she had been investigating deals struck between AHS and private surgical facilities.
In one deal, AHS was to pay $70 million to a Turkish company for children’s Tylenol. Mentzelopoulos revealed that the government lied—the company was not a Turkish children’s Tylenol manufacturer. It was actually MHCare Medical. MHCare is a private medical supply company owned by Sam Mraiche, infamous for taking UCP government ministers to enjoy luxury suites at Oilers playoff games. It was soon discovered that the government’s negotiator had connections to MHCare.
This is one corrupt deal among many. And to push deals like this through, the government used wannabe mafia-style intimidation tactics. The premier’s Chief of Staff Marshall Smith would warn Mentzelopoulos about the “serious businessmen” she was upsetting, and that certain “powerful people” were upset about AHS employees criticizing the government on social media not being fired.
The corruption here is particularly oafish and overt, but it’s part of a process of privatization that has been in motion for decades. It’s part of the same gutting of the system that’s also seen Smith announce plans to turn AHS-operated hospitals over to private providers like Covenant Health.
Naheed Nenshi and his Alberta NDP have called for a public inquiry into the affair and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s resignation from cabinet. But this is far from enough. Replacing one capitalist politician with another changes nothing fundamental. So long as there is the potential for these private interests and their pals in government to make some money, the threat of privatization will only grow.
The only way to save universal health care once and for all is not only to reverse privatization but to take health care out of the hands of capitalist government cronies. To build a truly free, universal public health care system, we must hand the reins to the workers who make the system run in the first place.
