Health Care again!

[cowman]

You know life is like poker...you play the hand you get dealt? And yes, life isn't fair!
I don't think I was suggesting the poor should go without healthcare? Even in the USA, where they have a free market system, those that can't pay are covered by medicaid?
Actually because I have to live the life of a puritan I am in fairly decent shape! When you have to be careful with what you eat you tend to stay fairly trim! I don't even know what butter or margarine taste like anymore! Fat of any kind is a big no no for me...I pay dearly for it if I indulge!
Did anyone here catch Marketplace on Sunday? Wendy Mesley did a very good piece on her own battle with cancer and it was an eye opener to say the least! The fact is we are being poisoned by our food suppliers and the government and the Cancer Society does little to prevent it! How much money could be saved if we could prevent the cancer epidemic?

[cowman]

Life isn't easy for many people with handicaps, and I for one do not want to see the health care system make it even more difficult than it is now.

I would hope that isn't the case.

[cakadu]

With the American Health Care system, if you have nothing, you are okay and if you have wealth, you are also okay. It is those people who have a little that are penalized the most.

We have friends who have a son who is wheelchair bound among other things. They wanted to pay for an electric wheelchair out of their own pocket because it was taking so long to get one through the AISH system. They were told if they paid for it, then it would come off of whatever monies he got per month, so they would in effect be paying double.

Here they were trying to give their son some independence and dignity and at the same time take him off of a waiting list. Go figure.

[cakadu]

I would have no respect for a health care system where people had to prove they were 'poor' when they sought treatment !
The lady that I get to work here cannot receive any sort of gift or she is supposed to declare it.
She volunteers her time working for Victim Services, and when she asked about being able to make extra income each month from some sourse to offset the cost of her gasoline etc. for her work with victim services AISH told her she had to declare the imcome and it would be deducted from her AISH pension
One prescription she has to take daily costs $75.00, of which she used to pay $25.00. When the AISH pension was increased this year so was the amount she had to pay increased by 100%.
Then the government nearly broke their collective arms issuing press releases about the increase to AISH recipients.

Ensuring that any recipient of a pension or social program such as AISH can maintain their independence and ultimatly their dignity should be a priority.
Getting an AISH pension is not a slam dunk either, so its not as though people who don't feel like working can just apply. Recipients must go through a series of medical hoops to qualify.
I look at the lady that works here and think 'there but for the grace of God go I'.
Anyone of us could have been born with or develop an affliction that renders us unable to fend for ourselves, and my worst fear is that those folks will slip through the cracks if there are major changes to the health care system.

A small percentage of the money the government is going to spend on advertising and public consultation of their 'third way' would go a long way toward helping those who really need it access proper health care and likely even provide more very neccesary continuing care facilities.

[cakadu]

What bothers me the most is that we haven't heard anything about what it is really all about. The media has done most of the speculation and that is not information that one can base any kind of decision on.

If it well and truly is as "simple" as it is being made out to be, then trot it out and let us have a good look at it.

[cowman]

There was a very good column in the Innisfail Province written by Ron Moore that gave his opinion on the Klein government? I believe he has a pretty good take on the whole thing?
Now he wasn't talking specificately about the health care plans but about the increased spending of this government! Without a doubt the Alberta Conservatives are once again completely out of control?
He didn't have much nice to say about Jim Dinning or Stockwell Day! He did praise Klein for his early days as well as Steve West.
The upshot was he and 34 other MLAs had gone to Rod Love prior to the leadership vote in which Klein became premier and demanded that if Klein would implement their conditions, they would support him? The conditions were:
Cut the cabinet to 15 ministers.
Cut the civil service by 25%
Government never involved in private business again.
curb free spending ministers and if they overun their budget, replace them!

Now to give Ralph Klein credit...he did this in his first term, virtually saving the province from bankruptcy!
Well what happened to all those lofty ideals? Once again they are off like a bunch of drunken sailors! Moore blames it on the old red Torys who actually control the party.
If Klein tries to get some sanity back into government spending then I believe it is our duty to support him? I want my government to be fiscally responsible.

[cowman]

In further regards to this subject: How is it that Saskatchewan(that old commie hotbed) can have a budget of $7 billion, while Alberta has a budget of over $27 billion? I do realize their are more people in Alberta but when you compare the difference obviously, per capita...there is no comparison? Hey wait a minute...how can this be? I thought that darned Calvert was a commie socialist and our Alberta Tories were like fascists or something?
How come Calgary is always crying for money from the province? Bracconier seems to think we all owe him a living or something? How come a town like Sylvan Lake, which is like about the fastest growing municipality in North America can come up with a large surplus despite all the extra infrastructure? Or how come Red Deer County, with all the developement going on, can hold the line on taxes while the city needs a 12% tax hike?
Maybe these cities and the province need to get real and start acting in a fiscally responsible manner? Does the city of Red Deer really need a new $44 million museum...like anyone would ever bother going to it anyway?
In any government, you need good managers? We obviously don't have that in many of our cities...and obviously in our provincial government? And the sad thing is provincially the ones we have running the show are better than the clowns sitting across the house!