An Interesting Resolution at the 2013 UBCM

Each year local government representatives consider many different resolutions at the annual UBCM conference.   Some connect specifically to issues under the control of local government, but many of them do not.   A lot of people use the UBCM as a way to move a specific political agenda forward.  These resolutions get the most media but I tend to find those resolutions pointless posturing.

This year the Thompson-Nicola Regional District has brought forward a very interesting resolution that at first could be seen as very political.

B136 ANNUAL STATEMENTS FOR BC MEDICAL SERVICES - submitted by Thompson-Nicola RDPLAN BENEFICIARIESWHEREAS beneficiaries’ use of the British Columbia Medical Services Plan has a substantial impact on medical resources in the province;AND WHEREAS the provincial Ministry of Health no longer distributes annual statements of services detailing health care services and associated costs to Medical Services Plan beneficiaries unless specifically requested to do so:THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the provincial Ministry of Health take immediate steps to provide British Columbia Medical Services Plan beneficiaries with annual statements of medical services, detailing health care services paid on their behalf during the preceding year in order to raise public awareness of the cost and types of medical services charged.

This idea is a very interesting one because most people really are not paying attention to how much it costs for them to get healthcare services.    If people know how much everything costs, maybe they will use fewer services?  

I think this could be a very enlightening thing to do though I wonder what the cost would be.  You have to produce about 4,000,000 of these and mail them out to everyone.   I am not sure how you could do this for less than several million dollars.

At that sort of cost, would this exercise bring enough savings to justify it?  How would you even measure the possible savings?.