User Pay Healthcare Comes to Markham
11/06/08 09:30 AM
Let me begin by
saying that anyone who believes that we have a
universal, one tier health care system in Canada
should really give up the Grey County Gray stuff and
join the rest of us here in reality land.
Every time I read that some American basketball player stubbed his toe during a game here in Toronto and was taken directly to a downtown hospital for a full body CAT scan, an MRI and a neurology consult, all of which was completed before the next morning sports pages were printed I want to throw something at a politician. This battery of tests for you or I would involve the best part of a year of to-ing and fro-ing, several doctors from several different disciplines, a small army of clinic and health care support staff, a couple of dozen civil servants and a note from your mother.
When a politician, or a politician’s friend, needs a heart transplant, don’t stand in between them and the surgical room because you are going to get knocked down in the stampede. And for God’s sake, don’t sustain any head injuries within a walking mile of the hospital or you may get your wish to “donate” a little bit earlier then you had planned on.
For the most part, even though it is not as egalitarian as advertised, I like our health care system. I spent a lot of time working in various US cities with a number of companies filled with normal people who had normal health care issues not one bit different then we have. Their hospitals are wonderful, well equipped temples to modern medicine. Marvelously well trained doctors and first rate drug therapies await your every symptom.
However, you only have to see the effect of one diagnoses of Diabetes for a co-workers young child or a single heart attack to realise just how precious our portable health care system is. In the US of A, any such health care crisis has far reaching consequences. If you have a fairly good health care plan with your job, you are now bonded to that job forever. Any career advancement that necessitates a change of employer will result in you having zero health care benefits as your new employers plan will almost certainly not cover a “pre-existing condition”. You are screwed and you had better not get sick.
Back here at home, our hospitals are few and far between, an MRI may become a scarce precious resource, ‘shared’ on a regional basis by a number of hospitals so book four months in advance and beg a ride to Newmarket if you need one. Meanwhile a trip to the emergency room would try the patience of Job.
During a recent Provincial election, Liberal politicians unveiled, (for a second time already) a big sign touting a massive investment in our local hospital to fund a much needed expansion. Markham Stouffville Hospital needs this expansion.
Election over, sign is fading, minor announcement recently that the funding has been put on hold, ostensibly until the next election.
Not to be left out in the cold, a plan has been announced by the local politicians to levy a 3% Hospital Expansion Tax on homeowners in York Region to fund the expansion promised by the Province. These guys got balls.
It sounds a lot like the “User Pay” plan that is raised every so often and roundly criticized by pinheads like George Smitherman our Health Minister, as not universal, anti-inclusive and discriminatory.
Only in this case, it is a little bit different because it would be a case of Homeowners of York Region PAY while Everyone Else USES.
Markham Stouffville hospital is only a few miles north of Toronto’s border. Hospitals in Toronto are even more crowded then ours. It turns out savvy frequent fliers on the Ambulance Service frequently direct their drivers to take them to Markham Stouffville because the wait time, while still atrocious, is less then in their local hospital.
Run your eyes down the addresses of the patients in any ward in the hospital and you will find a great number are from outside what most folks would see as a logical ‘catchment area’ for MSH.
So, our hospital really does need to expand and we do need to raise some money if the Province is going to renege on their commitments.
I am going to surprise you here and tell you that after much sober thought I am in full agreeement with the 3% tax plan on York Region homeowners to fund this expansion.
They can impose that tax, the day after they start asking for ID with a York Region address on it before they admit or provide any services to anyone who comes through the door.
That I can live with.
30
Every time I read that some American basketball player stubbed his toe during a game here in Toronto and was taken directly to a downtown hospital for a full body CAT scan, an MRI and a neurology consult, all of which was completed before the next morning sports pages were printed I want to throw something at a politician. This battery of tests for you or I would involve the best part of a year of to-ing and fro-ing, several doctors from several different disciplines, a small army of clinic and health care support staff, a couple of dozen civil servants and a note from your mother.
When a politician, or a politician’s friend, needs a heart transplant, don’t stand in between them and the surgical room because you are going to get knocked down in the stampede. And for God’s sake, don’t sustain any head injuries within a walking mile of the hospital or you may get your wish to “donate” a little bit earlier then you had planned on.
For the most part, even though it is not as egalitarian as advertised, I like our health care system. I spent a lot of time working in various US cities with a number of companies filled with normal people who had normal health care issues not one bit different then we have. Their hospitals are wonderful, well equipped temples to modern medicine. Marvelously well trained doctors and first rate drug therapies await your every symptom.
However, you only have to see the effect of one diagnoses of Diabetes for a co-workers young child or a single heart attack to realise just how precious our portable health care system is. In the US of A, any such health care crisis has far reaching consequences. If you have a fairly good health care plan with your job, you are now bonded to that job forever. Any career advancement that necessitates a change of employer will result in you having zero health care benefits as your new employers plan will almost certainly not cover a “pre-existing condition”. You are screwed and you had better not get sick.
Back here at home, our hospitals are few and far between, an MRI may become a scarce precious resource, ‘shared’ on a regional basis by a number of hospitals so book four months in advance and beg a ride to Newmarket if you need one. Meanwhile a trip to the emergency room would try the patience of Job.
During a recent Provincial election, Liberal politicians unveiled, (for a second time already) a big sign touting a massive investment in our local hospital to fund a much needed expansion. Markham Stouffville Hospital needs this expansion.
Election over, sign is fading, minor announcement recently that the funding has been put on hold, ostensibly until the next election.
Not to be left out in the cold, a plan has been announced by the local politicians to levy a 3% Hospital Expansion Tax on homeowners in York Region to fund the expansion promised by the Province. These guys got balls.
It sounds a lot like the “User Pay” plan that is raised every so often and roundly criticized by pinheads like George Smitherman our Health Minister, as not universal, anti-inclusive and discriminatory.
Only in this case, it is a little bit different because it would be a case of Homeowners of York Region PAY while Everyone Else USES.
Markham Stouffville hospital is only a few miles north of Toronto’s border. Hospitals in Toronto are even more crowded then ours. It turns out savvy frequent fliers on the Ambulance Service frequently direct their drivers to take them to Markham Stouffville because the wait time, while still atrocious, is less then in their local hospital.
Run your eyes down the addresses of the patients in any ward in the hospital and you will find a great number are from outside what most folks would see as a logical ‘catchment area’ for MSH.
So, our hospital really does need to expand and we do need to raise some money if the Province is going to renege on their commitments.
I am going to surprise you here and tell you that after much sober thought I am in full agreeement with the 3% tax plan on York Region homeowners to fund this expansion.
They can impose that tax, the day after they start asking for ID with a York Region address on it before they admit or provide any services to anyone who comes through the door.
That I can live with.
30
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