Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre: British Columbia’s First Privatized (P3)Hospital

Fact Sheet, BC Health Coalition, April 2005

The Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre will be a privately financed, and administered hospital for the next 30 years. Whether or not the local residents really want privatized health care, the BC Liberal government is determined to push ahead with the initiative – as if the only choice for Abbotsford is between a P3 hospital or no hospital.

Even proponents of P3s such as the Fraser Health Authority, Partnership B.C., B.C. Ministry of Health and the BC Ministry of Finance acknowledge that P3 hospitals are more expensive than their publicly financed counterparts. They describe these extra costs as representing unverifiable ‘value for money.’

P3s do not represent additional funding for public services – they are a more expensive form of debt that must be repaid. Governments are able to borrow money at a much lower interest rate than corporations. This isn’t just a bad deal for health care, it’s a bad business deal.

Public health care is cheaper because private companies have to divert money into marketing, higher administrative (including legal) costs, huge executive salaries, investor relations, income taxes (public bodies do not pay income tax), and most of all – profits. Investors in private health care expect profits in the range of 12-20% annually. P3 consortia can expect even more.