Two-Tier Medicine Coming To B.C.

If somebody wants to pay for their own or their own loved ones healthcare, then there should be no impediment to do so. If somebody is allowed to spend their after tax dollars on health for their pet, or on food, or beer or a car, why shouldn't they be able to spend it on their own health.

your arguement is sux Bud!<br />
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The question is NOT about the ability to pay but rather about further usuption (sic?) by the Ferengi rules of acquisition crowd.<br />
(<a href="http://www.dmwright.com/html/ferengi.htm">http://www.dmwright.com/html/ferengi.htm</a>)<br />
O K, I gest and hopefully you get the idea<br />
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Some where in the mix the sacred oath became about the ability to pay.<br />
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Hippocratic Oath -- Classical Version<br />
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I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:<br />
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To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.<br />
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I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. <br />
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I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.<br />
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I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.<br />
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Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.<br />
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What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.<br />
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If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.<br />
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Translation from the Greek by Ludwig Edelstein. From The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation, by Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943<p>---<br>Always be tolerant with those who disagree with you. After all, they have a perfect right to their ridiculous opinions-<br />
unknown

because Canadians decided a long time ago that healthcare
is a special case. surgery isn't a new transmission, or a
case of beer, it's life & death and it can make you
bankrupt overnight.

a long time a go, we decided that because of the nature
and importance of healthcare, it had to be publically
supported and maintained by the people and not private
enterprise.

what people often forget (as it would seem you have) is
that this is not just a case of a few rich people making
sure their kids stay healthy. if you stand back and look
at the situation, this is really about Canada's ability to
take care of *all* of its citizenry, not just the ones
with an extra $2300/year to throw at the issue.

additionally, as the author has pointed out, this
re-allocation of Canadian resources (read: doctors moving
to for-profit healthcare) means that Canada as a whole
will be less able to take care of its people... those same
people who can't afford the $2300/year.

i can't speak for you, but to me, when the vast majority
of Canadians say that fixing *public* healthcare is their
number one priority, i don't think they're voting for an
everyone-for-themselves system.

If the political will was there, Canada could have a public system as stated in the Romanow Report. Nobody would have to pay out of pocket for health care, thereby making health care cheaper for all- even the rich! So to defend two tier health care is merely for some privileged to say to the rest of us, " Ha Ha, I live good, and you don`t!" So I guess personal insecurities are prevalent in certain places in society and government when some like to see others lose. But, the question is, what are we going to do about this? To merely sit around and complain will do nothing! If the majority of us believe in universal, high quality public health care, then we will FIGHT for it!!! This very well may mean we have to do things we normally wouldn`t. So I say to you, my fellow Canadians, let`s put down that beer, turn off the TV, and get to work!!!

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Dave Ruston

<BR><BR>Paul Martin slashes health-care funding as Finance Minister. Paul Martin's friend and doctor is:<BR> <BR> Opposition politicians are calling Paul Martin a hypocrite after finding out that his personal physician heads a private health care clinic in Montreal. <BR> <BR> Dr. Sheldon Elman is the founder and CEO of the <B> <A HREF="http://www.medisys.ca">Medisys Health Group</A></B>. He has been Martin's doctor for 23 years. <BR> <BR> Martin says he's never used private health care. In recent months, he has been touting the Liberals as the protectors of medicare while painting the Conservatives as the party that wants to privatize services. <BR> <BR> "The hypocrisy of these guys is absolutely breathtaking," said Conservative leader Stephen Harper. <BR> <BR> The company's web site, lists its 2003 revenue as $53 million and says it provides health care to some of the country's largest corporations. It also operates a chain of private MRI clinics. <BR> <BR> Martin insists he's never undergone an MRI. <BR> <BR> "My primary health coverage…is my medicare card and that's what I use all the time when I go to a public clinic," says Martin. "I don't believe in queue-jumping." <BR> <BR> Deputy Prime Minister Anne McClellan took questions from reporters Friday wondering why Martin would use a private clinic. <BR> <BR> "This is a clinic in Montreal that is publicly accessible to anyone who needs medical treatment." <BR> <BR> Only last week, Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew was forced by Martin to clarify remarks Pettigrew made suggesting the Liberals were more open to private clinics. <BR> <BR> New Democrat MP Bill Blaikie says the issue is the fact that private clinics are flourishing. <BR> <BR> Quebec is home to a growing number of MRI clinics. Patients can opt to pay out-of-pocket for the service, bypassing the long waiting lists of hospitals. <BR> <BR> Harper says Martin has failed to make clear his intentions on medicare. <BR> <BR> "No one knows where this prime minister stands," says Harper. <BR> <BR> Martin has promised to work out a new health funding deal with the provinces this summer. He is also expected to make health care an issue in the next federal election, expected to be called any day.<BR> <BR> Source: <B> <A HREF="http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/07/canada/Martindoctor_040507">http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/07/canada/Martindoctor_040507</A></B>

Go look up the word selfish in the dictionary; that's why.

What's amazing here is that under a private system doctors are willing to accept a salary; something that most would never have considered in the public system. Also, any doctor in private practice who received their education in this country should have a stiff surtax charged on their earnings to pay for the medical educations the received on the cheap as compared to the US where they would have had to pay at least 10 times the tuition and would not have had access to adequate student funding. The majority of these people would never have become doctors without the public subsidizing the medical education. We the public has subsidized their medical education and I believe we are owed for that in the form of their accepting reasonable salaries (they should be salaried public employees like any other health professional in this country or who they themselves hire) and supporting public medicine.

As I wrote above, in reply to the article on Dr.Chaoulli in the Globe, once foreign, US based health providers are permitted to operate in Canada, Medicare is dead under NAFTA and WTO rules, as a "trade distortion". So it isn't the question of "people who can afford, or willing to pay for it" should be allowed, but the basic survival and existence of the present system.

In other words, there won't be a two tier Medicine, because it won't be permitted. Campbell and his gang know this all too well and are working on it to make it happen. Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.