Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Ontario ASers

Hi Again, Seniors and children up to twenty get free optomist visits.It's the rest of us with are poor Iritis and aging eyes who will be in trouble. I called my dr. and it is $70.00 for a examination.

J>P

Well Kat, we can definitely agree that they ALL lie! No bones about it.

I hope you're aware that the NDP nearly put our province under for good. Remember the staggering deficit and debt that sky-rocketed to the point we lost our 3 star credit rating with the money lenders? That one cost us BIG time. Businesses ran screaming out of this province, never to return. You will be happy to know that the NDP just last week regained full party status in a by-election making the party eligible for $1.5 million in cash from the province. It is useful to ensure having a healthy opposition, but 'in power' they will put us in the poor house forever. The fiscal realities hit Bob Rae hard and forced him to turn away from his socialist agenda (albeit not far enough away to avoid the bad credit rating) but enough to lose the traditional union support.

The Liberals tax grab in the new health care levy alone looks like this:
Those earning up to $20,000 a year will pay zero. Those earning $20,000 to $36,000 will pay $150 this year, $300 next year and subsequent years. Those earning $36,000 to $48,000 will pay $225 this year, $450 next year and subsequent years. Those earning $48,000 to $72,000 will pay $300 this year and $600 next year and subsequent years. Those earning $72,000 to $200,000 will pay $375 and $750 next year and subsequent years. Those earning more than $200,000 will pay $450 this year and $900 next year and subsequent years.

In the Conservatives 'common sense revolution' platform they promised to make deep cuts and return to being fiscally responsible. Yes, I agree they went too far, and they basically destroyed any hope of working cooperatively with our service sector unions. They were bullies of the worse kind. However, they did do what they said they would do in making deep cuts to service and providing modest tax relief. Oh, and Mike did manage to restore our good credit rating, so we saved a bundle in interest payments.

Yep, it's hard to imagine being any worse off with the Transcendentalist dudes!

Okay, time for you to run for office and fix all this Kat! You'd have my vote!

mig

Never fear, love, I remember what happened when the NDP took office here. I also remember Bob Rae coming to terms with it and trying to stop the spending. I respect him; he has a lot of integrity to stand up the way he did instead of towing the party line.

I also remember what happened when the Federal Liberals were forced into a minority government with the NDP. Everyone blames Trudeau for those years. Nobody remembers that the Liberals couldn't get anything accomplished without caving to NDP spending demands. Much as I like the ideals of the NDP, I know they aren't realistic. Not financially anyway.

You know, it seems to me that far too much emphasis is placed on finances these days. I mean, economy has always been around, even during the trade and barter days, but now, I don't know, it's like an illness. When common human rights such as healthcare, good education and seniors' being cared for properly take a back seat to how much money someone can make or lose in the deal, we've come a long way down a bad road.

Yes, you are right, Dictator Mike did do what he said he would. But he made the choice to do so, even tho doing so crippled alot of services. Yes, money went into healthcare that had been alotted to healthcare, but again, had he not put the measely $10 bucks or whatever it was back into my pocket, there would have been that much more money to maintain the healthcare system.

What he did to our children, our seniors, our single mothers, our poor, our environment, is not justifyable by any stretch of the imagination. You do remember that he also said right out that nurses were pretty much useless. Walkerton. Self-explanatory. Dudley George. Self-explanatory. The man is, to my mind, a criminal. The lies told and the laws stretched virtually to the point of breaking, are, to my mind, criminal. But, you are right, he did actually do what he said he would do. The resulting chaos and pain to the public at large are, well, casualties of the war of finance.

You know, Mig, I have to laugh. All these people going on about what the Federal Liberals did in their quest to balance our Federal budget is no different than what Mikey did. Really, when you think about it, it's not. The budgets had to be balanced, I suppose. Slash and burn tactics were what they used. There is no difference between them in many ways.

Thank you for your vote ... of confidence ... Mig. Of course, if I ran for office (and don't think it hasn't occurred to me), I'd have to become just like them just to survive. I don't think I want to do that. I'd rather stir people up to think about the political decisions they make. As long as they use their brains, think about the ramifications and make informed decisions, it doesn't matter to me which direction they turn. Unfortunately, far too few people do that.

Hugs,

Kat


"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."- Thomas Edison

With a federal election likely in June, Roy Romanow is saying that it's critical that we make medicare a major issue. Not much is happening with Romanow's recommendations - which is too bad.

Things in Ontario may be rough, but try using the health care system in a smaller province. The shortage of specialists is astounding, the surgical waiting lists are crazy to name but a few problems. Many rural hospitals are now closed...etc. Sask. may have been in the vanguard of medicare in the 60s, but we're in pretty much a crisis state now.

So, make sure that you raise health care issues with your MPs and their wannabees!

A very well written note Kat! Kudos to you!

Yep, finances can be quite a serious illness, especially when mis-managed. The truth is that only good fiscal responsibility will keep us from losing forever our precious health care system. And only with sound financial practices can we avoid crippling all of our socially conscious programs. If we keep spending more money than we take in, should we just keep hiking taxes? Our tax burden is already (comparitively) extremely high. Kat I agree with you 100% that the dictator's cuts were too severe, yet, spending more than we make - continually - will incur a larger debt and end up taking more $$$ away from healthcare in the end in order to pay the 'interest' on the debt. Math.

The dictator gave us all a choice. Give back the $20 - $200 rebate cheques to the gov., or hand over to your charity of choice, or put in your pocket. The choice was ours.

Okay, I cannot spend another moment defending the dictator lest I be sick. If only we had a party that fell between these 2 and provided a balanced option. Hey, I can always dream! Wanna start a new party?

Yep, right again Kat. Martin copied Mikey because it was the only responsible thing to do. There comes a time when biting the bullet and balancing the budget is the only choice left. If only both levels of gov. had cut wasted spending instead of our beloved social programs, we'd all be laughing.

Btw, I could've written your last paragraph myself, as I feel the exact same way.
Bet we have Amy re-thinking whether she still wants to meet up with us now eh?
Hugs,

mig

You go Kat! Great letter! I don't live there so this doesn't effect me, but I would have done the same thing as you.
More people have to speak up when they feel they are being done wrong and unfairly.
Hugs,
Lisa

Yeah, that really pisses me off. They get Romanow to do this great big report and say that they'll do what he says to fix things.

And then they don't.

You're right, things are getting bad here. Still hasn't affected me, personally, yet, but I see it all around. Did you know we have a shortage of rheumies here in Ontario? Found that out at class last night. So, I can only imagine what it's like for you all.

The only light here is that regardless of the problems, we still are all guaranteed medical care free of charge (sort of). That is something worth fighting for. Universal healthcare has become the backbone of Canada in many ways. So many people with their hands out, screaming for more money, more money, to pay for things that shouldn't cost that much in the first place. I mean, let's look at this. There isn't enough money to run hospitals. Why?, because wages cost so much, because equipment costs so much. Why?, because the guys selling the equipment pay so much for it in the first place. Why?, because the guys making the equipment pay so much for the parts. Why?, because the guys making the parts pay so much for the materials. Why?, because processing the stuff needed for the materials costs so much. Why? because the guys who make the machines that process the raw materials, charge so much. Why?, because the guys who make the machines pay so much for the parts to make them with. Why?, because the guys who supply the parts pay so much for the materials to make them with. Why?, because the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah (in the words of the immortal Buffy)

I wonder how feasible it would be to cut costs across the board by, say 10%. Probably not at all. But it blows me away that things cost so much. There's no real reason for it, really, that I can think of. I'm all for free enterprise, but when free enterprise interferes with public's right to healthcare and education, there has to be something that can be done. It's unconstitutional, darnit!

So, let's all of us speak out and fight for this if it's so important to us.

Oh man, I'm on a roll this week!

Hugs,

Kat


"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."- Thomas Edison

Right on, Kat! I think that healthcare issues will be a big one for those of us living in small provinces. Every day, it seems, the local paper has a story about how someone hasn't received the treatment they needed because of the lengthy waiting lists etc. For those of us with chronic illnesses, we live with the long waits for tests. Unfortunately, this past winter, I broke my wrist & needed two surgeries - what I found amazing was that it took two weeks before I had 'emergency' surgery. That waiting time was awful.

The irony of it was that I had I received a notice for a bone density test about one week after the last surgery - a mere 18 months after my rheum. requested the test. And, of course, they discovered that I have osteoporosis. So, this got a bit personal for me.

Yeah, but wouldn't it be great if once, just once, they took the money from the government employee perqs? You know that we pay for the MPPs living expenses here in the city, yes? And that's fair, since they must maintain a residence both in the area in which they were elected and here in the city with the House is sitting. But have you heard about some of the expenses we're paying for? How about a cap on lunch spending? How about a cap on how much the residence we pay for can cost (no more $10,000/month apartments for MPPs - and yes, at least one of those exists)? How about a cap on how much money they can spend on vehicles here in the city (no more limos for the public servants)? How about no more stupid unbelievably badly researched contracts? How about severance packages that kick in even if the guy got fired? How about double billing, retiring from politics, taking your pension that's worth about a million a year, and then getting paid by the government to work on a contract basis? I'd be willing to be that we'd have a few million a year extra just from that.

If I saw that our public 'servants' were pinching pennies, I'd have no problem with doing so myself. But they don't.

And do you know why all the things we need cost so much money? Look at the contracts of the CEOs and Presidents of companies? Jeeze Loueeze. You could feed the entire Jane/Finch corridor for a year on the yearly bonus of one of these guys. And then the banks and insurance companies cry poor 'cause they only made a few billion last year. boo hoo. cry me a river.

"The dictator gave us all a choice. Give back the $20 - $200 rebate cheques to the gov., or hand over to your charity of choice, or put in your pocket. The choice was ours."

Yes, and a lot of people I know put it toward charity. Can you imagine anyone giving that money back to the government? For crying out loud, they'd probably spend it on lunch instead of healthcare.

Sure Mig, let's start a new party. We could call it, The People Who Actually Have to Use The System Party. Oh, that's a little wordy, isn't it. Hmmmm.

See, Mig, I simply cannot bring myself to defend anything that man has done. The things I know about him personally leave me cold and completely explain his attitudes toward the poor and single mothers. He is evil, right up there with Saddam, as far as I'm concerned. I can hardly talk about him without wanting to spew. So, please, don't defend him on my account. God knows, we don't want you to get sick doing it.

Hell, Mig, if I was Amy, I'd be running, screaming in the opposite direction!

Hugs,

Kat


"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."- Thomas Edison

Hi all.... I just dropped in and I must say that I really enjoyed reading the dialogue.

I really have to agree. Personally, I'm on a CPP disability. This does not give me any drug/dental/opthalamic benefits. Of the $512 I receive monthly, I am paying $120 in drugs. I havn't been to the dentist in years, but I have been having regular eye exams due to the nature of this disease. Now, of course, I won't be able to afford those either.

My son Daniel is on ODSP. I think it's great that they are finally giving a 3% increase on his disability payments but......... 3% of what the Govt deemed "living expenses" eleven years ago isn't going to make much difference. Sure.... it's going to give him an extra $21 per month........ but it still has his income well below the poverty line.

I remember years ago when I still lived back home in England, when Maggie Thatcher became Prime Minister. She got a lot of respect because she actually told the truth.... she told the nation the true state of affairs, and warned everyone that things had to get a lot worse before they could get better. They did get worse, but they did eventually get better. She kept the nation informed and told them why things were happening the way they were. It was a lot easier to accept when you knew why. Personally, I'm just sick of hearing all the pre-election promises and then facing the reality.... usually a complete 180. Is there even such a thing as an honest politician?????

I know that there has been a lot of talk in this post about Bob Rae and the NDP. Personally, I think that considering they never expected to actually win the election, they did a great job in at least telling the truth and getting on with it. I think that they just hadn't had the years of training to lie, manouveur and bs their way out of things. Kudo's for them for just trying to do the job.

You know... I bought my son Daniel to this country (he has dual British/Canadian citizenship) because it was the best place in the world for health care. In England they wrote him off, they wouldn't do the brain surgery because they said he would die anyhow. Here, they did the surgery because they said he might live. What a difference. I have to wonder how different the story would be if we had just arrived in this Country now .... now, when we have a chronic shortage of Doctors, Specialists, Nurses, equipment and hospital beds.

I should point out... these are only my opinions. I don't profess to follow all the "in's and out's" of politics, and I hope I didn't offend anyone or their beliefs... that wasn't my intent.

I hope you don't mind Kat, but I plagerized some of your letter and used it within mine that I sent to my MPP.

Maxine



May the roof above us never fall in, and the many friends gathered below it never fall out.