For What It's Worth

It’s time to weigh in on a few topics.  Let’s start with our health care system, the one they tell us is spiralling out of control.  The other day my brother-in-law was not feeling very well and finally he caved in and went to the emergency at our local hospital.  They suspected appendix but because it took them all day to determine this all the surgeons, anesthesiologists and other care givers had departed at 4 p.m.  Therefore they had to take him by ambulance to Calgary for the surgery which still couldn’t take place until the following morning.  Snip, snap, done.  They told him he could leave the same afternoon.  Meanwhile their Yorkshire terrier has eaten a steak bone from Smugglers, got his own little belly ache and he stayed at the vet clinic for 3 days for tender loving care.

       What’s the difference?  The vet clinic can bill to their heart’s content but the hospital can’t.  Never mind that we pay taxes, not to mention paying health care fees for 5 decades but somehow we are not given the same care that a pet would get.  I’m waiting for them to allow a bullet to put us out of our misery because we “cost the system too much money”.  Just who determines what is too much is a little scary since we are supposed to be a democratic nation with freely elected representatives of our interests.  I don’t know about everyone else who goes to the polls but my interest in electing a government is to ensure that we live in the most civilized and socially responsible country possible.

       Ah, so the catch is what does it cost.  B.S. – the catch is, what is the priority of the elected government?  I do not want to hear that the priority is to reduce the deficit.  I want to hear, rather, that the priority is the well being of its people, and that this can be achieved by Responsible Spending.  The difference, my friends, is where the priority lies.  A government whose jargon consists of repeated use of the phrases “cost cutting” “cost measures” “deficit reduction” “reduced spending” is not the government for a country whose wealth is apparent but has been slanted to such a degree that we are in danger of having more than 50% of the population live as pseudo-slaves.

       The other day I caught the tale end of a story about the pensions which our MP’s receive.  That little snippet advised us that they do not contribute into their plans at all – something must have changed in the 6 months since we were advised that they contribute $5.80 while the taxpayer contributes “$23.30 for every buck” (I take that to mean $135.14 if I am reading the story correctly).  It’s enough to make you sick – but you can’t get sick because you aren’t allowed to go into the hospital anymore.

       Catch 22.