Medicare

[cowman]

Well I think the natives are guaranteed medical service under the treatys"as long as the rivers flow and the mountains stand" sort of thing? Not to say there isn't a lot of abuse of the system over at Indian Affairs. I don't think we can really blame the Indians but the government that allows that abuse?
Carebear laid out the main problem of medicare. When the system doesn't take care of your problem, then does it really matter if it is free? Not much good if your dead while waiting for the cure?
I have to get a test every three months from a specialist(or at least I'm supposed to). So he tells me to see my family doctor and he will set up an appointment. I said why don't I just phone your office and set up an appointment? Oh no Alberta Health requires I first go and see the GP and he sets up the appointment! Now this is totally stupid as the GP has absolutely no clue about my disease! But it puts $40 in his pocket and wastes both my time and his. It is stupid garbage like this that clogs up the system? Although I can see it might be necessary to keep the GP in BMWs! Because they sure are pretty useless at doing anything else these days!
I kind of get a laugh out this specialist. When he said who is your family doctor I told him I don't have a family and I don't have a family doctor. He said well who do you see when you are sick? I said well I've never been sick before and the only time I go see one is when I need to be sewed up or need a bone set, and from my way of thinking the vet could do either job better than some of these doctors and a hell of a lot cheaper! He just shook his head and muttered about damned old cowboys!

[Horse]

When you talk about the general public wasting $ I think the bigger culprets are the DR and the emergency services when you ph the health line all they tell you is to come in to ER ambulance staff called to acidents automaticaly police officers taken to hospital if any scratch and on it goes.
Now here Ralph is going to fix it but he sure is short on details except to point at the feds ant mouth off, o yes wine at your bed side you pay of course but you wouldnt be bored wating for the DR.

[frustrated1]

Here's one for you. My cousin's in the parking lot of a major hospital in our capital city, on his way to an appointment. Not 50 feet from the door the fellow in front of him falls on the ice and manages a compound fracture to his leg(ankle?). Can the hospital just scoop him up and get him inside? NO NO NO!!! You have to call the ambulance and get the paramedics to do it. Now I realize this is due to legal ramafications(?), but talk about waste! The guy was already at the hospital! He just had the misfortune of not falling onto the ER gurney! How much did we get billed for that one? How impressed do you think the guy laying there was that he had to wait the extra half hour? Plus the nurse that stood guard over him anyways?

[cowman]

Speaking of Ralph...has he gone insane?
First he says Alberta might have to opt out of medicare. Then Martin phones him and he's like "Oh no I'm definitely committed to medicare!" Then two days later he reverses himself in Vancouver and once again Alberta is going to opt out! Then he comes up with this bizarre crap about building hotels on the side of the hospitals so patients can get room service and booze delivered! What's next...an amusement park or casino or maybe an escort service???
I don't know what to make of this! Is Ralph back on the bottle or something?

[boone]

cowman: We will know when the carousel rides have pink elephants. And every room has a ice machine.

[wilagro]

Hi Cowman...Yes Ralph has flipped out. Appointing Steve West as his Chief of Staff proves it. I think we are in for a rough ride in the years ahead. Expect the worst from this government as they challenge Ottawa and gear up for more "privatized" hospitals. We will need lots of booze in our hospitals to ease the pain.

Regards...

[frustrated1]

Don't sell the bike shop Orville!

Has Ralph flipped? Or has he managed to get all of us thinking a little? Yeah, the carousel and tea party sound ridiculous but how many of us went home and started thinking of other ways the system lacks. He is right in that somethings' gotta change and soon. This health care system is not maintainable. When you look at dollars, the mad cow is only a drop in the long term bucket. Health care is the giant lurking within. What is PEI's budget for health care now, over 50%? Not defending Ralph but as with most things that need change, we do have to start thinking outside of the box. Serving booze is deffinetly outside the box, so was flying at one point. Perhaps there are better ideas that are more accepted? Let's get them out there. How many genius ideas came from tossing out ideas or scribbling on napkins? Let's get at it!

[raymondb]

Right on the money frustrated 1. When we taught groups to brainstorm, one of the things that was a must was that each person had to have at least one real silly or "off the cuff" idea presented. It was real interesting to watch these off the cuff ideas result in a real good problem solver. These really got the rest of the good thinkers shifted into a new paradigm.