So, have ya'll heard about the new budget coming down from Greg Sorbara? Only a couple of years after Dalton McGuinty decried the same move from Mike Harris's Conservatives? They're going to impose a new, personal health care tax to cover OHIP costs. That, in itself, wouldn't be so bad, except that I hear that they are also going to be cutting chiropractic, physiotherapy, optometry and podiatry from the OHIP covered services list. So, we'll be paying more for less.

I have, today, emailed both Dalton McGuinty and Gerrard Kennedy, my local MPP in protest. What follows is the text of my letter. Make of it what you will, but we cannot allow this to happen unprotested. Too bad I didn't hear about it earlier. Regardless, if you feel you can do it, I ask that you, too, email your MPP and Mr. McGuinty using this letter or one of your own.

***

Dear Mr. Kennedy, I've been hearing some extremely disturbing things about Liberal plans for OHIP in the new budget. Not only are you going to impose an extra tax on people in this province for something that is already covered by our employers, but you are also, so I hear, looking at cutting services from OHIP; services such as chiropractic care, podiatry, optometry and physio-therapy. So, in effect, I'm going to be paying more for less.

Sir, respectfully, I am enraged by this. I have a disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. It is a rare form of auto-immune based arthritis that attacks my spine and many other joints in my body, as well as my eyes and, potentially, my heart. If not properly treated, patients with AS can develop what is called bamboo spine, the fusing of one vertebrae to the other. Proper treatment includes physio-therapy to help us stay mobile. It also includes optometry as a first line of defence against Iritis, a condition of the eyes that can lead to blindness in a worst case scenario if not properly treated and not caught early enough. Regular visits to our optometrists can aid in this, as getting into opthamology clinics can involve a wait of up to three months, too long when Iritis hits.

Although the use of chiropractic care is controversial in the treatment of AS, many of us make regular visits to the chiropractor for mobilization of our spines and larger joints, such as the shoulders and hips. Moblization that we cannot physically do ourselves.

Many people with AS deteriorate to the point that they are unable to work, depending upon disability which does not cover their living expenses. The medical care that all of us require just to get through a day, let alone live productive lives is astounding in its scope. Drugs that cause side effects that require more drugs for treatment, side effects that can eat away at our Gastro Intestinal tracts and stomachs are generally the first things tried in treating AS. Non-invasive treatments such as physio and chiro are essential to our wellbeing, to keeping us mobile (literally) and can, in some cases, make our dependance upon pain killing drugs less, as the more we move the better we feel.

Now, you are telling us that not only will I/we be expected to pay more for OHIP, but I/we will also be out of pocket for services that are essential to the treatment of our disease. To the treatment of many forms of arthritis, including Osteoporosis, which affects much of our aging population.

This is another issue. As we age, we require more care; glasses, foot doctors, physio therapy to deal with replaced hips and other joints. These cuts, if they, indeed, occur, will be a drain on the already fragile resources of our senior population as well as anyone with invasive arthritis.

I am sorely disappointed and dismayed at this, sir. If this budget occurs as I have heard it will, you will definitely have lost my vote, and the votes of my family and friends, in the next election.


Kat


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

Great letter. Hopefully, other Ontario ASers will lobby their MPPs as well. I suppose that I'm lucky that I moved from Ottawa 3 yrs ago - except that the health care situation in Saskatchewan is suffering - so no doubt we'll be looking at something similar soon. I've already complained about the lack of rheumatologists. But, the good thing is that 10 session of physiotherapy / yr. are covered by the province.

yo Kat,

BRAVO...that's a great letter...please post whatever reply you get from this guy.

and followup letter ought to mention your suspending of campaign contributions for his party. just a thought.
paying more for less in a system with poor level of service to begin with is a potent cause for concern and action.

' don't mourn, organize' joe hill

pu liki
aloha Ben

Hi Dorothea! Welcome to KA!! Beautiful name, by the way.

I think what gets me the most is that there are so many abuses of our money occurring on so many different levels. And they talk about these amazing surpluses. Well, where the heck are they, then? What are they being used for? Not healthcare, that's for sure. I do believe that Canada's healthcare/medicare system can be fixed, but I do not believe that private clinics and user fees are the way to go. Education in a big way. One of the things that the Harris government did during their regime (which thank god ended), was to establish a health line. It's a 1 800 number that people can call for advice before they go off and clog up emergency rooms for sniffles. It is probably the only thing that his government did that I actually agreed with.

Apparently, 46% of Ontario's budget is devoted to health care. What the heck are they doing with all that money? I've always thought of the Liberals as the midpoint between the Conservatives and the NDP. However, as far as political parties go, I don't trust them - any of them, for that matter. I still maintain that my family has been very well served by our healthcare system. My dad was diabetic (with all the peripheral problems), my grandmother was in a coma from meningitis when I was 15 and survived (to die of emphasima of all things), my aunt has been under constant medical care for the better part of 35 years, my cousin has so many health problems (including fibro and two brain tumours), my uncle with prostate cancer, a 2nd cousin (3 years old) who is in remission from cancer, and me.

We all have received the treatments we needed going back to the mid-sixties. Right now, I have little to complain about, personally. However on a societal level, what I see scares the pants off me. Medicare began in Saskatchewan and spread from there to become a national programme, part of our national and cultural heritage. It's something we must fight for.

Sorry. I'm on a political rampage today. Ok, this week. Fine, in general right now!

Hugs,

Kat


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

Thanks Ben! I will most definitely post any response I get. I sent two, one to our premier (head of the provincial government) and one to my MPP (my provincial representative). We'll see what happens.

As I said to Dorothea, I'm on a bit of a rampage today. Having alot of fun too! Sort of gives me a focus for the frustration I'm feeling at being in pain again. OK, I never actually stopped being in pain, so 'having heightened pain again' would be more accurate.

Hugs,

Kat


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

bump

Thank you, John. Have I told you lately what a wonderful person you are?

Kat


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

Hey Kat - I LOVE your enthusiasm!!!

The budget speech isn't suppose to be delivered until 4 pm today... so how do ya know what's in it already??? I have heard they've been floating ballons on this topic (and certainly wouldn't put it past them at all to break even more of their election promises) but did you really expect any different? They are the known as the 'tax and spend' Liberals for good reason. And remember... it is the fault of their big brother at the Federal level. They are the one's that caused this whole mess in the first place, and not the provincial Conservatives. It was that huge drop in federal transfer payments for health care that lies at the root of our current nightmare.

Arrrrrrgh, well if this is really what they intend, then I'll definitely be sending them my thoughts in writing as well. And I will be making a point of telling them that if they FAIL to cover basic medical services such as these, they might as well just start adding all of our names on the list for disability. In the bigger picture, the decision is seriously flawed.

It really doesn't bode well for my chances of getting on Remicade. We shall see.

Thanks for firing me up Kat!

mig

At this point, Mig, it doesn't matter who caused it.(How's that for a deflection? ) What matters is finding a way to fix it that doesn't infringe on our rights to proper care.

How do I know? I read the papers, watch Canada AM. That kind of thing. The Globe and the Star were full of the additional health tax and Canada AM was talking about the service cuts, although that hadn't been verified and we won't know for sure until, well, about now, actually, since it's 4:15.

I'm glad you're fired up, tho. We need to get fired up about this stuff. If we don't make our displeasure known when our politicians make decisions we don't like, then we tacitly accept and condone then.

I didn't read anything about the pharmaceutical end being affected, by the way. However, I think someone is trying to put a National Pharmaceutical plan (similar to medicare) into place. Can't remember where I heard that, but I think it was someone on the west coast?

You know, I think I got a sliver (or ten) while I was gardening on Sunday. Only I've only just noticed it and now it's driving me NUTS! Think I should go to emergency for it?

Hugs,

Kat


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

"it is the fault of their big brother at the Federal level. They are the one's that caused this whole mess in the first place, and not the provincial Conservatives. It was that huge drop in federal transfer payments for health care that lies at the root of our current nightmare."

And just because I can't leave anything lie ...

You do realize that Mike Harris didn't have to cut taxes either. He knew the transfer payments were being cut and he had a choice between keeping OHIP going, or cutting taxes and slashing services. He chose the latter. So, I would say that it was a joint responsibility situation.

How's that for a compromise in differing opinions.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Inanna,

When you get a reply can you post it seperatly so that all of us here in England can see how false the canadian politicians are and see if they are as bad as the British ones!!

There is only one thing stopping you achieving your goals. That one thing is yourself. If you are determined enough to succeed then you will’ Challenge Sailing Team 2004

Good letter Kat.
I hope they listen to you. There are too too may cuts to health care in all the proviences.
They were also talking about bringing in a tax down this way. Didn't say what would be cut etc.
It didn't happen in this budget I think the main reason is we have a minority government and that just may have made it fall



Take care
Valerie

Although ya know I would love to compromise,...

True, Mikey did put some of your income tax money back in your pocket. But, he didn't give you back a penny of your OHIP payments. He kept that and spent it on healthcare... so the only money missing to fund our health care was the $$$ large sums yanked away by the feds years back and never restored. Ask any other province and they will say the same. Mike did not have very much choice but to flail widely about making changes in mad desperate attempts to find savings to maintain our system. Yes, he could have increased our taxes, but since we already pay more money for health care than most nations on the planet, he tried to find savings. Pretty weird move for a politician eh? Too bad it didn't work very well.

Well, I just watched the throne speech live (as much as I could handle) and IT"S TRUE!!! The Liberal's plan is to do exactly what you'd heard - steal services away and charge us even more for significantly less. To borrow a phrase... "We hates them."

They have big plans to increase other areas of health care and will do it by stealing more of our money in taxes, cutting all the services you listed, and running a new even bigger deficit! A combined 2 income family (with 2 kids) making about 60k will have a yet another tax increase of $600 /yr!!!!! Here we go again... tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend. Exactly all of the things they promised NOT to do.

On a singular bright note, they plan to increase Ontario Disability Support payments annually by 3% for the first time in the last 11 years!!! This should be helpful to our fellow spondylitics in these parts no doubt! And they plan to buy an additional 9 MRI machines for the province. At least we have something to smile about!

Cheers!

mig

Hi Gang
I just wanted to add a clarification with regards to physio and chiro appts.The government will pay if you are referred by a doctor.

Thanks for the clarification Janet!

So now the question is,... who runs around getting Physio if they are without health issues? Seems rather odd.

Cheers!

mig

Hi GAng,
I also thought last ngiht they said there will be many more joint replacements and Cataract surgeries performed per year becuase of the extra cash. There won't be more cataract surgeries because folks won't be having there eyes examined! I am amzed they didn't take away the Trillium drug plan, I don't know how I would manage to pay for my drugs. I sure do miss my drug coverage I had at my job.

Chers,
Janet

Excellent letter Kat...I took the liberty of forwarding it to my MPP and to the Premier aswell....hope that was ok.

Dan

>>>>>>
We are kicking some AS*.

Well, Janet, I'm glad to hear that, anyway. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get my family doctor or my rheumy to prescribe chiro for me. They both know how important it is to my ongoing wellbeing. As for physio, that's one that doesn't touch me right now, as I've chosen pilates as my physio, which isn't covered by anyone.

The optometry thing, well, that's just short-sighted in the extreme. We live in a world that is dependant upon flickering images on small screens. Our eyes are constantly trying to adjust to the flickering, which overworks the muscles. People are needing new prescriptions long after it used to be that their eyes evened out. Kids need glasses much younger now. The majority of us depend on our eyes for work (ie computers) at this point. Ah well, just get in to the eye doctor before July.

Thanks for making this clear for us, Janet.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Really, tho, Mig, that's what every government does - tax and spend. Or cut taxes, slash services and keep spending. Frankly, for me, at this point, the name of the party, the colour of their ties, it doesn't matter. I don't trust any of them. I don't want to vote for any of them. They all lie. They all cheat. They all try to justify their actions (although there was no justification for what happened to seniors and single moms under the last regime). They all want our votes and they'll all say whatever it takes to get that vote.

I'd be willing to bet that the reason that the NDP didn't do as well during the last provincial election is that they actually told the truth about the state of finances in this province. The public didn't want to hear that. After ten years under the Tories, they just wanted someone to tell them that it would all be all right. That's what McGuinty did. Hampton told the truth and, well, they lost party status.

The one I would edge toward might be the NDP, if only for that reason, but then, look what the NDP did to Bob Rae when he told the truth about the state of affairs in this province. They turned the unions against their own man and they lost the next election.

Can't trust any of them. I still want to see the Natural Law Party get in. Or the Marijuana Party. Hell, transendental meditation, pot, both lead to less bickering at Queens Park and Parliament Hill.

Hugs,

Kat


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

Dan, that's just fine with me. One of the reasons I posted it was to encourage people to speak out about these things that are so integral to our wellbeing. Glad you were able to use it.

Hugs,

Kat


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

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.

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