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

Great letter. I have been trying now for a day and a half to contact my local MPP. She is a Liberal. There is no answer at her office, her fax machine is shut off and she has temporarily disconnected her e-mail address. I get the feeling she is getting alot of heat.
She did completely defend the budget in our local newspaper last night though.
Our area has a great deal of unemployment, homelessness, etc. I wonder how we'll vote next time.

A family of 6 on a disability income(dad has AS) with the second parent required at home for the smallest children and assistance for dad (Dad currently requires physio, chiropractic care and optometric care) is going to have a difficult time surviving.

But seriously, who wants to hear about these people.

Melissa

Yeah Kat, there is nothing that makes me see red more than those dreaded severence packages! All the examples of waste are absolutely endless... and I'd be willing to bet the tag is quite a good bit higher than a few million. Add that to the ?? millions in waste at the federal level and wow if we could find it, and save it, we'd all be well looked after. I think we could even afford the really good drugs! If only.....

Can you imagine anyone giving that money back to the government? It went directly towards paying down the debt. Yawn. Tho some folks did, it wasn't sexy enough for the average citizen to even consider. However, had they promised to put the $$$ towards healthcare - then maybe? It doesn't really matter now, since the Liberals have just stolen this tax rebate back out of our pockets and multiplied it by a factor of 5 !!!!! And that's not even counting all the little extra tax grabs he snuck in like hiking our license fees. I will give him credit for doing this all at the beginning of his mandate knowing full well that in 4 yrs the voters will forget. They always do.

The People Who Actually Have to Use The System Party. Okay, you had me in gutteral laughter at that one Kat - and I think it IS absolutely PERFECT! It would probably work like a marketing gem! Wordy? Yes maybe, but definitely memorable. TPWAHTUTSP ~ I would love hearing all the reporters trying to wrap their tongues around that one on the morning news! Okay, I will get to work on the signage and you can start crafting the party platform!

Can't help but notice Amy has been suspiciously absent!?!

Kat, I have thoroughly enjoyed having this conversation - so my thanks and hugs!

mig

Hey Maxine!

I am sitting here wondering why you wouldn't be eligible to have your meds covered under the gov's Trillium plan? If you haven't heard of it already then it might be worth looking into.

Honestly I can't imagine that your opinion would offend anyone. Your's is a uniquely valuable opinion, especially since you've had the experience of living somewhere else and therefore having a better basis for comparing system's. Anyways, I just really wanted to thank you for sharing your story. Our system is certainly worth the effort to preserve.

Hugs,

mig

Hi Melissa and welcome to KA!!

Man, what you describe just sucks. What a situation for a family to be in. I just don't get it.

I'm glad you're trying to contact your MPP. Keep trying, kiddo. We cannot let them think we approve of their actions, even if those actions are being, supposedly, made in our name and to our 'benefit'.

I want to hear about these people, Melissa. I wonder, if they were faced with a short blurb like yours from thousands of people across the province, I wonder if they could sit there and pull stuff like this. Hmmmm. We could send the blurbs to the papers. Uh oh. Kat's got an idea. How to pull it off. Hmmmm.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Hey Max! I'm with Mig, get in touch with the Trillium Foundation.They're online, so you can check out all the rules and regs, and they have a full listing of covered drugs as well. With your income, you should have no problem signing up for it.

There will be a small yearly deductible, but then you're fully covered.

Good god, Max, if we were worried about offending people with our political opinions, this discussion would not have continued as it did. We're putting opinions and ideas out there, what people make of them is their business. Your opinions, Melissa's mine, Mig's, Dan's, whomever's, they are opinions. Not worth getting offended over.

And honey, you use that letter as much or as little as you want. That's why I posted it.

I love what you said about the Canadian healthcare systems reaction to Daniel. That's how it was meant to be. Maybe, we can get it that way again. Be a long road tho. But worth the journey.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Hi there Mig.....

With regard to the Trillium plan, I didn't actually need it before as my meds were only $20 a month (my Doc "samples" me to death! ), but... my Doc is moving so I have to start actually buying my meds. My problem is that I live with my boyfriend, and his income is taken into account, so we (collectively) make too much money (on paper). Of course, it doesn't take into account that he is supporting 3 kids from his previous marriage.

At least he can use my medical receipts as a tax break ...... maybe.... if I spend enough!

You know what makes more sense to me regarding this Health Care Tax??? Well, I was giving it some thought yesterday, and there is a simple solution to help the senior's and low income families. I am a volunteer Income Tax preparer through CCRA. Every year, we receive training through CCRA in all the new regs, and then for two months solid we do taxes for free to families whose income is below $25,000. This is actually sponsored by the CCRA to make sure that everyone a) files and b) get's any monies refunded that they are due. Well, when we complete the Ontario Tax sheets, why could this health tax not be calculated dependant on either the family income, or on tax payable. For example, if no Ontario Tax is payable, then that family is obviously on a low income.... they should be Health Tax exempt.

Most (if not all) of the returns we file have no tax payable. Usually the families are relying on their Ontario Tax Credits to give them a little help financially (the credit is based on their rent paid and their sales tax credit)..... if we are to take an additional $300 from their credits to go to this health tax, then many would end up having to pay. I've seen what our seniors have to live on, and it's not much. At lot of the seniors have to fork over for prescriptions that are not covered by the OAS plan, and they obviously, don't get a tax break there as they are "non-refundable" tax credits.... in other words, if they have no tax to pay, they are useless. I just wish the powers that be would just look at this issue closer..... there are going to be seniors who can't afford to eat soon.

Maxine

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

We could call it the 'PWAHUS' party, for short!!

If you wanted, I could be the party leader and you could be my deputy. There. We have a party of two at the corner table. Now, we just need someone to do all the work!

I was talking to my mother about all of this. She feels that had the Feds done everything slowly over a number of years (going back to the Mulboney era and carrying through Chretien), the cuts wouldn't have been as harsh and we would barely have noticed. AND, the budget would have ended up balanced. However, they did it all at once and so blech.

As for Mikey, same deal. He did it all at once, so blech. Except, I think he got a personal kick out of it. But that't just me.

Maybe we scared Amy off. I hope not. I wouldn't want her to think she's getting together with a couple of rabid politicos or something. After all, we're just rabi .. um .. er ... norm .. um ... er ... what the heck are we anyway??!

I've loved this conversation, Mig. Thank you so much. What fun to grapple with political ideas and solve the problems of the country. And you know what party would solve this country's problems, right?

The PWAHUS Party!

What do you think. Is purple a good party colour? I mean, red, blue, orange and green are already taken. We could sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Last night I sat and wrote a huge reply to this threa and than my computor seized up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH

Any way - I just wanted to add that the government waste issue is what ticks me off the very most.

In Kemptville, I am surrounded by many many people who have taken huge government " Buy Outs "
Many of them now, also do contract work for the government. The rest of them are just plain " Relaxing "
Believe me, these people are doing VERY well, financially. This is OUR money that the governments are freely handing out.

When the hospitals went through " Re-structuring " in 1998, I was one of many who lost a good job. At the time, I thought, it wouldn't have to be this way if the workers were not all demanding such outragious wages.

All examples of Government waste and overspending REALLY REALLY BURN MY AS.

Maggie

Burns my butt too, honey. I don't mind the big pensions going to people like Joe Clark or Bob Rae, who, regardless of their politics, are men of integrity. I'll bet Joe Clark doesn't double dip. I wouldn't resent Pierre Trudeau getting his pension either (if he were still alive). Again, a man of integrity (regardless of what you think of his politics, he worked his butt off for this country, out of love for this country).

But these pissant idiots who sit in Parliament for two years, then 'retire' with massive pensions, then take publicly funded contracts to enhance the billions/trillions of dollars we're already giving them in pension. It just makes me burn cold fire.

But what can we do about it? Nothing while we are just joe blow citizen. We'd have to become politicians to change this and, let's face it, as I said before, then we'd have to behave like politicians to stay in office long enough to make the change. It takes a very special person to become a politician and maintain integrity and a sense of human decency or compassion.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Hi again Maxine!

Well your concept makes perfect sense to me! That's how I assumed they would calculate this new tax, as some new formula of the Ontario tax, based on one's taxable income. The old 'if negative enter zero' routine! How else? I can't say I've even heard how they are planning to collect it? I am obviously missing some key fact in this... I really haven't listened to any news since they announced the budget.

I understand the non-refundable tax credit concept, but am confused why we'd be taking the $300 from their credits? They said anyone with a income under 20K (should be 30K) wouldn't be paying a cent - is this not true in your opinion? I would definitely appreciate any enlightenment on this topic, as I will have more writing ahead of me if I have mis-understood. For the Liberals to hit the seniors and low income earners at all would seem outside of their usual agenda.

You should send your notes and ideas re: the method of collection straight to your mp, if you haven't already.

Hugs!

mig