From the Toronto Star:

Feb. 25, 2004. 01:00 AM

Premiers fear collapse of health-care system


CAROLINE MALLAN AND DANIEL GIRARD
STAFF REPORTERS

VANCOUVER-Canada's premiers say the health-care system will begin to
self-destruct by the end of the decade without both an overhaul and a cash
influx from the federal Liberals.

At the end of the inaugural meeting of the Council of the Federation,
the premiers demanded that Prime Minister Paul Martin increase base
transfers to the provinces for health care by $2 billion in the March 23
federal budget.

They accuse the federal government of purposely understating the size
of the surplus and short-changing the health-care purse year after year.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said his recent musings about possibly
pulling his province out of the Canada Health Act, de-listing some services
and forgoing federal funding has not reached the point of serious
discussion.

The Premiers agreed that Ontario and British Columbia will come up
with a series of research papers in advance of their next meeting in July.

The two provinces will present their findings on what is driving up
the cost of health care and what long-term funding is needed.

The two provinces will also look at better ways to provide health care
in remote communities.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said in an interview that he worries
that other initiatives, such as a literacy program, an agreement to break
down inter-provincial barriers and plans to work together on emergency
preparedness will go unnoticed in the seemingly never-ending health-care
fray.



http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...=1077664212935

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No wonder I've been seeing so many Canadians in my practice lately.

Here's mo

Feb. 26, 2004. 01:00 AM

Liberals claim queue-jumping, extra billing exist
MPP discusses concerns at medicare hearing

Bill 8 would fine MDs for `two-tier' medicine


THERESA BOYLE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

Some doctors in Ontario are illegally taking cash payments and
allowing patients to jump ahead in line to get faster treatment, according
to the Ontario government.

"I believe there is some queue-jumping happening," Liberal MPP Monique
Smith, parliamentary assistant to Health Minister George Smitherman, said
yesterday.

"I think there is some concern that there are people paying their way
to the front of the line and that's got to stop."

Queue-jumping and extra billing are violations of the Canada Health
Act.

Smith made her comments outside an all-party committee meeting where
MPPs were studying Bill 8, the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act,
which would clamp down on such practices.

Smitherman also addressed the committee recently and raised similar
concerns.

"One recent example of queue-jumping is a clinic that allowed people
who were willing to purchase an enhanced lens for cataracts to get cataract
surgery immediately, while all other cataract patients had to wait a year
for the same surgery," he said last week.

"We cannot tolerate this kind of activity," he continued, calling it a
form of "two-tier" medicine.

The cataract case in question involved patients being charged between
$400 and $600 for a supposedly better lens. A government source cited one
example in which patients are told the lenses can help prevent conditions
such as macular degeneration. The Ontario Health Insurance Plan does not
cover the cost of such lenses because they are medically unproven.

The source cited another example in which patients are offered bifocal
lenses. Again, OHIP does not pick up the tab because such lenses are not
considered medically necessary. In both cases the operations are
reclassified as plastic surgery and patients get it faster, sometimes within
two weeks.

There are also cases of some doctors extra-billing patients by
charging them "block fees" for services that are already covered by OHIP,
according to government sources.

These fees - which usually range from $50 to $125 annually - are
intended to cover uninsured services such as renewing prescriptions over the
phone, writing sick notes to employers, providing telephone consultations
and filling out insurance forms. Not all doctors charge block fees, but
increasingly they are doing so to supplement their income.

Patients don't always know what they're being charged for and there
have been cases where they paid extra for services already covered by OHIP,
according to government sources.

Bill 8 would increase the transparency around block fees, ensuring
patients know what they are paying for. The legislation would also ensure
that patients know block fees are optional - and that if they don't pay
them, their access to a doctor should not be hindered.

OMA president Dr. Larry Erlick gave mixed messages to reporters when
asked about queue-jumping.

"I do queue-jumping every day. ... I just happened to have a cardiac
patient waiting for bypass and suddenly he's having chest pain at rest. So I
called up the surgeon and said you've got to move him up to the head of the
list because he's now a medical emergency. I don't apologize for that.
Doctors do that every day with their patients," he said.

"We're trying to play the system on how to get our patients access to
care because the waiting lists are too long."

Erlick later stressed the distinction between a medical emergency and
paying for faster treatment. "What I want to clarify is that I don't support
anybody paying for queue-jumping. I hope I didn't give you the wrong
message. ... Nobody should be able to buy their way to the front of the
line."

In its initial form, Bill 8 called for jail terms of up to one year
and fines of up to $50,000 for doctors caught allowing queue-jumping. The
province has since softened the penalties, removing any mention of jail
terms.

The amount of the fines is still being worked out.

Noyb:
The slammer arrived today. Nicely made, as are most Penn reels. Instant
anti-reverse, and a totally different drag system than the SS series.
The 460 is about the size of a 6500, with a smaller spool. No lever that
allows reversing the reel...

The Federal Gov't balanced it's books on the backs of the provinces and the
provinces in turn on the municipalities.
Funding for our health system hasn't kept pace with costs.
This is an ongoing complaint year after year.

NOYB wrote in message
. com...
From the Toronto Star:

Feb. 25, 2004. 01:00 AM

Premiers fear collapse of health-care system


CAROLINE MALLAN AND DANIEL GIRARD
STAFF REPORTERS

VANCOUVER-Canada's premiers say the health-care system will begin to
self-destruct by the end of the decade without both an overhaul and a cash
influx from the federal Liberals.

At the end of the inaugural meeting of the Council of the
Federation,
the premiers demanded that Prime Minister Paul Martin increase base
transfers to the provinces for health care by $2 billion in the March 23
federal budget.

They accuse the federal government of purposely understating the
size
of the surplus and short-changing the health-care purse year after year.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said his recent musings about possibly
pulling his province out of the Canada Health Act, de-listing some
services
and forgoing federal funding has not reached the point of serious
discussion.

The Premiers agreed that Ontario and British Columbia will come up
with a series of research papers in advance of their next meeting in July.

The two provinces will present their findings on what is driving up
the cost of health care and what long-term funding is needed.

The two provinces will also look at better ways to provide health
care
in remote communities.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said in an interview that he worries
that other initiatives, such as a literacy program, an agreement to break
down inter-provincial barriers and plans to work together on emergency
preparedness will go unnoticed in the seemingly never-ending health-care
fray.




http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...r/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=10 77664212935

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No wonder I've been seeing so many Canadians in my practice lately.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Noyb:
The slammer arrived today. Nicely made, as are most Penn reels. Instant
anti-reverse, and a totally different drag system than the SS series.
The 460 is about the size of a 6500, with a smaller spool. No lever that
allows reversing the reel...

....which is a good thing, because the only thing that used to break on those
SS's was the anti-reverse. The Slammers seem like they're quite a bit
lighter and tighter than the SS's, but they're supposedly just as easy to
rebuild. All of the benefits of the SS's with none of the negatives! Good
luck.

The Canadian social health care system is going down the drain rather
quickly. Similar to the Canadian social education system. It is ok to visit
a hospital for a runny nose or a flu shot but anything more serious and your
rolling the dice. Most of the leading doctors have migrated south to better
paying positions, leaving us with younger doctors or many immigrant doctors.
Same thing with the social education system. These are turning into some of
the poorest systems in the world and everyone thinks Canada has the best.
Nope, I can relate this also to the lazy western slob workers, the
unionized. It just so happens that these two industries are heavily
unionized.
One quick story,, An good friend of mine works for the administration at a
hospital, they have 250 administration staff and when Mike Harris was
leading Ontario, he ordered a big cut, this forced the re-engineering of the
administration departments as well as other departments. The admin
department laid off 50% of their department and found out that there was no
back log, no dangers, no reason at all that there was that many staff. It
turns out that all those extra jobs there were simply there for the
employment and provide no value to the firm at all. Even when the staff in
that department was reduced to half, there was still some redundancy and
bureaucracy. It is no wonder why Mike Harris won two majority elections, and
union leaders threatened to kill the man.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm







"NOYB" wrote in message
. com...
From the Toronto Star:

Feb. 25, 2004. 01:00 AM

Premiers fear collapse of health-care system


CAROLINE MALLAN AND DANIEL GIRARD
STAFF REPORTERS

VANCOUVER-Canada's premiers say the health-care system will begin to
self-destruct by the end of the decade without both an overhaul and a cash
influx from the federal Liberals.

At the end of the inaugural meeting of the Council of the
Federation,
the premiers demanded that Prime Minister Paul Martin increase base
transfers to the provinces for health care by $2 billion in the March 23
federal budget.

They accuse the federal government of purposely understating the
size
of the surplus and short-changing the health-care purse year after year.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said his recent musings about possibly
pulling his province out of the Canada Health Act, de-listing some
services
and forgoing federal funding has not reached the point of serious
discussion.

The Premiers agreed that Ontario and British Columbia will come up
with a series of research papers in advance of their next meeting in July.

The two provinces will present their findings on what is driving up
the cost of health care and what long-term funding is needed.

The two provinces will also look at better ways to provide health
care
in remote communities.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said in an interview that he worries
that other initiatives, such as a literacy program, an agreement to break
down inter-provincial barriers and plans to work together on emergency
preparedness will go unnoticed in the seemingly never-ending health-care
fray.




http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...=1077664212935

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No wonder I've been seeing so many Canadians in my practice lately.

Tuuk wrote in message
...
snip most of usual crap
Most of the leading doctors have migrated south to better
paying positions, leaving us with younger doctors or many immigrant
doctors.

Are you some kind of 'racist' idiot?
What do you have against immigrant doctors?

White Don, you gotta give the head a shake for that one, totally lacks
intelligence. Actually borderline racists on your part.
I will explain further for you, in Canada there is an open door policy,
Canada wants to attract 500,000 immigrants per year, last year something
like 230,000 were accepted. Those allowed in must have some type of value to
add to the country, they must have a skill or trade (your union crowd need
not apply) and must agree to certain things. So, this doesn't mean those
arriving on boats are all sent back, there is a chapter on compassion within
the act.
So, where were you, o ya, about you being a moron for suggesting racism,,,,,
duh,,,, is that your final answer?






"Don White" wrote in message
...

Tuuk wrote in message
...
snip most of usual crap
Most of the leading doctors have migrated south to better
paying positions, leaving us with younger doctors or many immigrant
doctors.

Are you some kind of 'racist' idiot?
What do you have against immigrant doctors?

Don White wrote:

Just throwing some of your crap back in your face. Now go 'shake the head'.

Tuuk wrote in message
...
White Don, you gotta give the head a shake for that one, totally lacks
intelligence. Actually borderline racists on your part.
I will explain further for you, in Canada there is an open door policy,
Canada wants to attract 500,000 immigrants per year, last year something
like 230,000 were accepted. Those allowed in must have some type of value
to
add to the country, they must have a skill or trade (your union crowd need
not apply) and must agree to certain things. So, this doesn't mean those
arriving on boats are all sent back, there is a chapter on compassion
within
the act.
So, where were you, o ya, about you being a moron for suggesting
racism,,,,,
duh,,,, is that your final answer?






"Don White" wrote in message
...

Tuuk wrote in message
...
snip most of usual crap
Most of the leading doctors have migrated south to better
paying positions, leaving us with younger doctors or many immigrant
doctors.

Are you some kind of 'racist' idiot?
What do you have against immigrant doctors?







Perhaps Tuuk is a low-level shop foreman in some bloody awful Nike
sneaker plant somewhere on the Pacific Rim where the workers earn 25
cents a day and the overseers live in fear of a union coming to the door
and insisting the workers deserve a dollar a day. I mean, that would be
the downfall of the Pacific Rim, right?

The resolution of job flight may well be an adjunct of the Turner thesis
on the settlement of the American west. At some point, the wages of all
of those in the developing countries will be about equal to those in the
Western world, and there will be no place left for the exploitative
capitalist to run.

Wonder if he has anything to do with ice skating blades?

Harry Krause wrote in message
...


Perhaps Tuuk is a low-level shop foreman in some bloody awful Nike
sneaker plant somewhere on the Pacific Rim where the workers earn 25
cents a day and the overseers live in fear of a union coming to the door
and insisting the workers deserve a dollar a day. I mean, that would be
the downfall of the Pacific Rim, right?

The resolution of job flight may well be an adjunct of the Turner thesis
on the settlement of the American west. At some point, the wages of all
of those in the developing countries will be about equal to those in the
Western world, and there will be no place left for the exploitative
capitalist to run.