Privatizing Health Care

Canada's first private ER to begin service So what will our Federal Health Minister do about this. Probably about as much as the last one did. Nada, nothing, ok well maybe send a letter to the Premier of B.C. full of thunder and bluster. Buts thats it.

Welcome to two tier health care. Wait we already have two tier privatized health care in Canada. Its called Lasik laser eye surgery. And it is not without risks. Though you wouldn't know it from the TV ads you see. And it is draining the healthcare system of Opthamologists and optometrists who are now going into private practice.


Eye disease prompts Toronto cataract surgery centre to close
TASS has affected about 137 eye centres across North America in the past 18 months. It is often difficult to determine the source.

Unreported laser surgery risks.

Have you been for laser eye surgery yet? It's the latest and greatest for people who don't mind flexing the plastic to get rid of glasses, especially aging boomers who want to look a whole lot younger. A huge industry has developed in just a few years. Over a million Americans and up to 100,000 Canadians underwent laser surgery last year.
Harmless? Not according to the Food and Drug Administration in the US. Definitely not for risk-takers, they say. The carefree growth of the industry ended last spring when investigators began to report that up to 50% of laser surgery patients experience abnormalities of night vision. Soon horror stories began to hit the press. Like most quick fixes, laser surgery isn't necessarily either. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.
Dr. Gordon Guyatt, a co-founder of the progressive-minded Medical Reform Group, says there's another risk that doesn't get as much reporting. Ultimately what may be more of a threat is what the laser surgery industry does to public health care in Canada. If fees are high enough for private eye surgery, doctors - trained at public expense - will opt for doing these surgeries instead of the publicly funded work they would otherwise do, producing "fewer ophthalmologists to perform emergency procedures, as well as longer waiting lists," according to last year's Ontario Medical Review. Your aging parents - like a close neighbour of mine - must wait a year for cataract removal so someone younger and wealthier can buy elective laser surgery.

Early 1960s	Lasers are first used in surgery.
1974	Russian ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fyodorov establishes The Moscow Eye Microsurgery Centre. Dr. Fyodorov announces a surgical cure for myopia -- the radial keratotomy ("RK"). The procedure involves reshaping the eye through cuts around the periphery of the cornea, which results in its flattening. At its peak, Dr. Fyodorov's clinics turn out a surgically corrected eye every 19 seconds through a special assembly line process.
Late 1970s	IBM develops heatless laser etching with the excimer laser.
1980	The National Eye Institute issues a public warning about RK, calling it "experimental."
Early 1980's	The U.S. military conducts studies into improving the vision of military troops through RK. Ultimately, the Department of Defense bans RK as a procedure.
1983	Dr. Stephen Trokel, an ophthalmologist and physicist, publishes landmark article following years of experiments using the excimer laser on corneal tissue. Article marks the beginning of the laser refractive surgery era.
1987	Ophthalmologist Marguerite McDonald performs the first photorefractive keratectomy ("PRK") in a human patient.
1989	Lucio Buratto of Milan, Italy, uses the excimer laser to remove tissue from the underside of a cap cut from the cornea. American ophthalmologists Stephen Slade and Steve Brint travel to Italy to observe Buratto's technique.
1991	Drs. Brint and Slade perform the first laser assisted in-situ keratomileusis ("LASIK") in the U.S.
2001	1.35 million LASIK procedures performed, a 40 percent increase over the previous year.
2002	U.S. Department of Defense actively promotes laser eye surgery for military combat personnel.
2010	Goal of refractive surgeons to have 90 percent of patients who need vision correction to achieve 20/10 vision, through newest laser techniques.

See:

Medicare

Privatization


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Tories Full Of Fiscal Hot Air

One thing we have learned from the Harper government is that they are good at vast generalities and short on details. They build up the public with promises of pending announcements and finally when the time comes well there is not much to see. Such was the case with their Clean Air Act. And they did it again this week with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's fiscal update.

In fact what Flaherty announced is nothing more than a plan to pay down Canada's debt without paying for any other new social programs and with cuts to existing spending. In other words stay the course.

The federal surplus will not be reduced by changing the EI program where most of it comes from. EI Surpluses will be used against the debt. Provinces will be expected to pick up expenditures in infratstructure, education, health care, etc. based on existing transfer payments from the Feds.

In other words nothing was announced that was not announced in their Spring budget. Jim Flaherty isn't a finance wiz he is the Wizard of Oz.

Policy Commitment

Canada’s New Government announced in Budget 2006 that it would work with the provinces and territories to further lower the welfare wall by implementing a Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) to make work pay for low- and modest-income Canadians. The Government will implement the WITB in Budget 2007.

But experts say there wasn't much new in the plan, and that it provides a road map on tackling debt but not much beyond that.

"The first thing we have to realize is that nothing has changed in this commitment vis-a-vis the federal government," TD Bank's chief economist Don Drummond told Canada AM.

"The commitment is still to pay down $3 billion a year -- so how do they get to zero by 2021? Well, they're adding in the provinces, which will also be in a net debt position," he said.

"But the kicker is that they're adding in the surpluses -- the net asset positions of the Canada and Quebec pension plans -- so this is not a concept that Canadians are really used to hearing about."

This means the federal government by 2021 will still carry a debt burden of 10 per cent of the economy, said Drummond, while the provinces will have a debt burden of 5 per cent.

"So there's 15 per cent -- but low and behold Canada and Quebec pension plans in that year will have a net asset position of 15 per cent."

If you do the math, Drummond said, paying down the debt by $3 billion a year means it will still be at $436 billion in 15 years.

"So it doesn't go down that much. But of course the economy is growing and they're always taking the debt as a proportion of the economy. So it's the economic growth that's really making the debt burden relative to the economy shrink."

OTTAWA -- Don't start spending the income tax savings announced this week by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty just yet.

After a quick crunching of the numbers, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says Flaherty's modest offerings in Thursday's fall fiscal update basically level out Liberal income-tax cuts he reversed last spring.

"It's a wash," said the group's federal director, John Williamson. "The rhetoric is they're cutting taxes, but the actual end result is either no significant change for taxpayers, or they're slightly worse off."

The Liberals announced reductions in the lowest income-tax rate last year -- shortly before Paul Martin's minority government fell.

Flaherty's budget last spring reversed those income-tax cuts, and brought in a one-point reduction to the GST.

Ottawa planning more cuts to climate-change programs

The Conservative government is planning a second wave of cuts to climate-change programs and is asking public servants to help manage the “fallout” by explaining why their positions should disappear.

Government officials who manage the programs in various government departments were told this week that climate-change programs extended by one year in April will not be renewed.

The officials are being asked to compile information as to who would most likely be affected and what their public reaction would be.

The project is being described internally as “government-wide” and The Globe and Mail was able to confirm that at least two departments, Natural Resources Canada and Agriculture Canada, were submitting reports this week.

See:

Our Republican Finance Minister

Harmonizing the GST

Flaherty

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Silence Is Golden

Alberta Tories mute on Quebec question As my mother says if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all.


See:

PQ Pulls BQ Strings

Dion Ghost Writer

Quebec A Nation Pro and Con

Four Little Words

Quebec

Conservative Leadership Race

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Neandertal Mystery

Did we wipe out the Neandertals or did we interbreed with them. The controversy continues.

Did Neanderthals and modern humans get it together?

Cave fossils are early Europeans

Neandertal Gene Study Reveals Early Split With Humans

More human-Neandertal mixing evidence uncovered

Genomic "Time Machine" May Pinpoint Divergence of Human and Neandertal

So we're 99.5 percent like a Neanderthal

Humans may have Neanderthals to thank for brains,





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Neandertal

Anthropology

Evolution

Primitive Man

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Revolutionary Left

RevolutionaryLeft.com, one of the world's largest leftist forum communities where over 8,000 leftists from around the world come to discuss politics, history, political theory, philosophy, music, literature, films and much more in over 50,000 posted discussions!


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PQ Pulls BQ Strings

This:PQ Congratulates Harper on Quebec Motion

Leads to this:Bloc to support Harper's ‘nation' motion


See:

Dion Ghost Writer

Quebec A Nation Pro and Con

Four Little Words

Quebec


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Is Dinning In Trouble

This is an non-scientific poll from the Calgary Sun. On the eve of the big vote it does not portend well for Jim Dinning in his race to become the man who replaces Ralph. After all Calgary is his home town.

Do you believe Jim Dinning should be leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta?

Yes:
(31.35%)
No:
(68.65%)

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

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Minimum Wage Increase Favours Business

The right wing traditionally argues that minimum wages hurt business but then again they support tax cuts because it puts more money in folks pockets to spend. So does a minimum wage increase.

Democrats, set to take control of both chambers of Congress, have vowed to make a hike in the minimum wage a top priority come January.
And analysts say a boost, while likely to be fought by business groups and some retail-industry lobbyists, would benefit some value-oriented stores.That's because many minimum-wage earners are struggling to make ends meet, so any extra dollars in their pockets are likely to be spent rather than saved.

"And where are they going to spend it? Wal-Mart" said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of retail consulting and investment-banking firm Davidowitz & Associates.

After all, it was Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, who made headlines last year when he declared that the world's largest retailer -- itself a frequent target of labor and anti-poverty critics -- favored a raise in the minimum wage.

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China Fuels US Inflation

There is irony in this. For further explanation of Chinas investment policies and the US foreign debt crisis see;New Asian Dragon; East Asia's Dollars


China Raises Red Flag On Dollar

Americans may be spending their dollars with merry abandon as the Christmas shopping season begins this Black Friday, and that might be a good short-term strategy: the greenback slid on the foreign exchange markets after a Chinese central banker expressed fears about depreciation of the U.S. currency.

“The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar, which is the major reserve currency, is going lower, increasing the depreciation risk for East Asian reserve assets," wrote Wu Xiaoling, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, in an academic paper. Wu is ranked by Forbes as the 35th-most-powerful woman in the world

Wu’s comments marked the second time this month that a Chinese central banker had made dollar-wary comments. On Nov. 9, the central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, was quoted as saying that China has plans to diversify its assets into “many instruments,” presumably moving away from the dollar.

China has never revealed the exact composition of its foreign currency reserves, but market speculation suggests at least 70% is in dollars. With Chinese reserves having recently topped $1 trillion, a move away from the dollar could have significant implications.

For months China has been soaking up U.S. Treasury bonds, using dollars from its huge trade surplus with the United States. Wu noted that East Asian investors not only face a currency depreciation risk from holding dollar-denominated assets but also falling interest rates on long-term bonds. There is some perhaps unintentional irony in that comment because China’s seemingly insatiable appetite for Treasuries seems to be a major cause of the falling interest rates.

See:

China

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Chinese Social Security Scandal

Just like any other government the Chinese new market orientated bueracracy lines its own pockets at the peoples expense. While the people suffer increased poverty despite the market boom in China, those who rely upon China's bare bones social safety net find that the bueracrats have looted the treasury. Not unlike attempts in the West to loot pensions and social security to invest in the market. China is truly becoming a capitalist economy. And gosh it's just like that other One Party State; Alberta .

State auditors find 7.1 billion yuan misappropriated in social security funds

The National Audit Office has found that 7.1 billion yuan of China's 2 trillion yuan in social security funds had been misappropriated.

The money was siphoned off for "overseas investment, commercial loans to companies, construction of government buildings and other purposes", according to a report released by the state agency. Of the total, 2.347 billion yuan was stolen before 1999 and 4.788 billion yuan after that.

The agency started the investigation in September on pension, unemployment and health insurance funds across the country and it discovered corruption and inconsistent management.

The agency's report insisted that the social security funds, except for sums paid to beneficiaries, "must be deposited in banks or used to purchase state treasury bonds". It said the funds were a "high-voltage power line", which meant that no one was allowed to illegally tamper with them.

China's social security funds have been recently hit with scandals - in particular the Shanghai scandal wich involved 3.2 billion yuan of city funds - prompting the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to say that it would keep a closer watch on the funds. The Shanghai scandal which broke out in September brought down Chen Liangyu, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, and other senior officials and business leaders.

Xinhua reported that China has carried out five nationwide audits of social security funds since 1998. Embezzlement of the funds was found in 16 of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in 2004, while 1.7 billion yuan was misappropriated in 2005 alone.

The National Audit Office's report also revealed that the director and financial chief of a health insurance fund management centre in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in northwestern China, transferred 31.9 million yuan (about four million U.S. dollars) of medical insurance premiums to the personal bank accounts of their friends and relatives. In Xinmi, Henan province, in central China, 6.4 million yuan of pension insurance funds were deposited in a credit cooperative, a kind of informal bank. The credit cooperative stopped operation in 2002 and the money could not be recovered.

China provided pensions to 43.67 million retired people last year and granted living subsidies to 3.62 million laid-off people. The value of the social security funds in China has more than doubled since 2000.

See

China

Poverty

Capitalism


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Alberta PC's Make Volpe Look Good

Days before the big vote for the Man Who Will Replace Ralph the Auditor General of Alberta reveals that a massive scam involving fraud and theft of funds from a government department may have ended up funding at least one of the candidates campaign. But because there are no financial reporting requirments for the leadership candidates campaigns, he can't say for sure.

An Alberta PC blogger, Ken Chapman finds the controversial conclusions in the AG report, something most of the MSM miss.AADAC Funds Allegedly Funneled into a PC Leadership Campaign Good for Ken.

Then Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell adds his own spin to Kens story.

As well, a blog alleges money from these contracts may have been funnelled through tobacco control lobbyists to Tory leadership contenders. Two others say Carr wanted to move up the government food chain to bigger and better positions.

Dunn asks Carr and checks the man's records. Dunn questions Alberta Lung and Kilburn. He can't find anything.

Except, Dunn does point out "unlike some jurisdictions, contribution records for leadership campaigns in Alberta are not required to be publicly available." And Dunn can't look at the books of the men who would be premier. In fact, Alberta law specifically excludes delving into dough from leadership bids.

The best the financial watchdog can do is lay out all the names and hope the Tory candidates do the right thing.

Anything more, says Dunn's findings, "is a matter for the Legislative Assembly to consider." That is, the politicians.

Dunn maintains if the contributions were open to the public "it would be very easy to trace."

Nothing in Alberta is ever easy to trace, whether it's government pork, insider influence or ballot-box stuffing. All this yarn gets is quick expressions of regret from the Tories and outrage from the opposition.

It will all blow over, as usual.

Yesterday morning, Dunn's department also talks to the province about the possible running up of expenses on a government credit card in 2004 by the executive assistant to former economic development minister Mark Norris, who is now running for Tory leader.

Dunn's department is "quite surprised" they hadn't heard of the allegations and asks government officials why auditors were not told. The answer? They didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. Situation normal.

AADAC funds the Anti-Tobbacco lobby who have been lobbying PC candidates with money from the government.

And the Conservatives, provincial and federal have the gall to call the federal Liberals corrupt. Ha. Welcome to the One Party State where corruption is just business as ususal for the Alberta Tories.

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

Smoking Bans Hurt Business

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Calling A Spade A Shovel

Why don't we call it what it is? The American war and occupation in Iraq has led to 'ethnic cleansing'. Gee just like what happened in the Balkans when Germany and the EU decided to recognise Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. Enough with the monicker 'sectarian violence'. It is ethnic cleansing pure and simple, courtesy of the White House.

More than 1,000 Iraqis a day are being displaced by the sectarian violence that began on Feb. 22 with the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra, according to a report released this week by the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, a U.N.-associated group.

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Iraq





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Dinning Morton Tied

Stunning. But not unexpected. The anybody but Dinning camp and the social conservative political lobby is mobilizing behind Republican Ted Morton in the race to replace Ralph. Leaving Oberg in third place with all the other runner-ups. It's Calgary Corporate Interests versus the Right Wing Reform Republicans. Of course neither really represents Alberta or Albertans.

Dinning, Morton virtually tied in Tory race

A second ballot is almost certain in Alberta's Tory leadership race, a new poll of party members suggests, with Jim Dinning and Ted Morton in a statistical dead heat and four hopefuls battling for third spot.

The poll by Leger Marketing of 801 card-carrying Alberta Progressive Conservative members found Dinning, the province's former treasurer, garnered the support of 21 per cent of those surveyed. Calgary-area MLA Morton appears to have emerged as his most serious challenger -- snaring 18 per cent support.

Fellow candidates Lyle Oberg, Ed Stelmach, Mark Norris and Dave Hancock all have a legitimate shot at finishing third in Saturday's vote, according to the poll conducted for the Herald, with support ranging between 11 per cent for Oberg and six per cent for Hancock.

See:

Conservative Leadership Race

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Won't Happen

Flaherty wants to eliminate net debt by 2021

This won't happen if we are stuck in Afghanistan till 2021.




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