Alberta Politics II

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by Hardhatdan

That is good to hear.

Does she ever express that there is room for certain private procedures and if that would ultimately shorten lines and free up space for those who are queued in the public system?

I am genuinely curious what health care providers thoughts are.

I'll ask her. She has a unique perspective because she's UofA trained, but the first 15 years of her practice was stateside. She returned because she was sick of dealing with insurance companies (had to hire a FTE just to deal with that end of the business) and malpractice insurance costs were prohibitive.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Hardhatdan

Does she ever express that there is room for certain private procedures and if that would ultimately shorten lines and free up space for those who are queued in the public system?

I know this question was addressed to someone else, but I'm piping in given the forum format. The flaw with the assumption a two tier system would shorten lines for the public system is that there are a fixed number of doctors with a max amount of time available. Every procedure "outside" would reduce the bandwidth "inside".

Originally Posted by Hardhatdan

"...When a private doc tells you that you need a scan of some sort and that the can provide it in the room next door, there is a massive conflict of interest there..." To me, this is a very different issue all together. Doctor's have certain duties of care, if they are abusing that or pushing unneeded care that is up to medical boards to monitor. Perhaps it's better to have those Doctors with such ethics outside of the public system...

At the end of the day, each doctor is a private professional corporation and makes a profit so as to afford the nice cars and multiple spousal support payments. While a crew that fills pot holes is all about pot holes, if they got more money to fill pot hole A versus fill pot hole B + C, they'll likely do A and drop two jobs that would have been better for the public good. Again, there are only so many specialist doctors - so maybe it is not like pot hole fillers that can be trained quickly. You remove doctors out of the public system and lift the regulations that surround that, and you result in longer lines for the public at large.

Originally Posted by Hardhatdan

As for aligning with the UCP I never mentioned the UCP

You do realize this is the Alberta Politics thread, yes? And do you understand that you personally do not control what can or cannot be mentioned, right?

Anyway - a two tier system would be a.) more expensive [we know this from the US model], and b.) be less efficient and effective [also known from the US model].

[Mikemike]

My recent experiences with the healthcare system have been positive. I got Eye surgery two weeks ago on a cancellation just two months into an expected 5-6 month waiting list, apparently more OR time will be opening up soon but care has been great and appointments have been relatively quick, including one on one-day notice to get a pre-op assessment done before surgery.

Family doctor access seems to be much better than it was 20 or even 10 years ago, and there seem to be clinics popping up all over the place the last couple years.

[Mikemike]

Originally Posted by suburbia

A candidate for Jason Kenney's UCP is under fire for promoting lawn signs made and distributed by alt-right Rebel Media

LINK - https://pressprogress.ca/ucp-candida...door-knocking/

In materials promoting the e-book, the far-right publisher declares “(Rachel) Notley hates our culture” and attacks her for speaking out against “xenophobia.”

Rebel Media, which was financed with foreign money flowing from anti-Muslim think tanks and groups funded by top Trump donor Robert Mercer, has repeatedly made headlines for its hateful content.

Madu’s rival, NDP candidate John Archer, tweeted Sunday calling on Madu to “apologize” for promoting Rebel Media.

I have no respect for rebel media but the UCP candidate seems perfectly innocent to me. A "Stop Notley" sign is not far right, and I wouldn't expect a candidate to know where it came from or to need to research it's provenance before mentioning it.

I'm a likely NDP voter again this year for the 4th time in a row provincially but this whole exchange reflect more poorly on the NDP candidate than on the UCP one who is a worst a little Naïve.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Mikemike

I have no respect for rebel media but the UCP candidate seems perfectly innocent to me. A "Stop Notley" sign is not far right, and I wouldn't expect a candidate to know where it came from or to need to research it's provenance before mentioning it.

I shared your view originally - thinking that the UCP candidate may not have been aware of the racist and phobic views expounded in the book the sign was advertising. This view changed, however, when I read the article - because the UCP candidate, after having been informed of this and after having time to review the hate on the website, decided to double down. If it were me, I'd have said what you said IE I had no bad intent and had not realized the sign was advertising a book that contained questionable statements.

[suburbia]

LINK - https://twitter.com/sprawlcalgary/st...03108589051904


LINK - https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/racism...ndidate-gaffes

“Albertans have been taught to avoid... conflicting conversations around race or religion, sexuality, anything of that nature,” Campbell said. “We’ve created an entire language and context around being polite.”

Hate is uncomfortable to talk about, and it’s even more uncomfortable if you benefit from the hate of others. This is the essence of the problem.

But being polite won’t cut it anymore.

But not all hope is lost. Efforts like AARAC are working to dismantle oppressive establishments through collaboration and education. And it’s also clear that many Albertans recognize the injustice of the present situation and crave change.

“I think that people are generally not racist here—or rather, they're concerned about others experiencing racism,” Nanda said. “People may not be fully aware of the lived experience of others, but if you explain it to them, they’ll try to understand.”

This is a sentiment that I, and many other people of colour in this province, pray is true.

LINK - https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/racism...ndidate-gaffes

[suburbia]

Beyond the pale


LINK - https://twitter.com/ProgressAlberta/...39880064802818

[suburbia]

LINK - https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/she...mate-1.5081036

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Mikemike

My recent experiences with the healthcare system have been positive. I got Eye surgery two weeks ago on a cancellation just two months into an expected 5-6 month waiting list, apparently more OR time will be opening up soon but care has been great and appointments have been relatively quick, including one on one-day notice to get a pre-op assessment done before surgery.

Family doctor access seems to be much better than it was 20 or even 10 years ago, and there seem to be clinics popping up all over the place the last couple years.

PCNs are one of the greatest things to be implemented in our healthcare system in the last 10 to 15 years as far as I'm concerned. Having a myriad of services available under one roof can be very convenient and it certainly helps that all of the providers are connected.

As for having more private surgery don't listen to Suburbia. All he's doing is regurgitating Friends of Medicare propaganda. I know some surgeons and according to them the problem is not OR space nor that they're too busy. The problem is not being able to schedule nurses to assist in the OR. If private facilities had non-unionized nurses they would be much more efficient and much more cost effective. Most surgeons only get 1.0 to 1.5 days/week in the OR so it's not like they don't have the time to do more. How much time do surgeons get in private clinics? Probably a lot more! If the government continues to pay the bill I doubt many people would care if Dr. X performed their surgery at Public Hospital ABC or Private Facility XYZ. Competition is good!

[mintzilla]

How Do the voting habits of our aboriginal population compare to the other demographics. I am always surprised at the large support for conservative parties in our northern communities which have such a large aboriginal population.

[Hardhatdan]

Originally Posted by suburbia

I know this question was addressed to someone else, but I'm piping in given the forum format. The flaw with the assumption a two tier system would shorten lines for the public system is that there are a fixed number of doctors with a max amount of time available. Every procedure "outside" would reduce the bandwidth "inside".



At the end of the day, each doctor is a private professional corporation and makes a profit so as to afford the nice cars and multiple spousal support payments. While a crew that fills pot holes is all about pot holes, if they got more money to fill pot hole A versus fill pot hole B + C, they'll likely do A and drop two jobs that would have been better for the public good. Again, there are only so many specialist doctors - so maybe it is not like pot hole fillers that can be trained quickly. You remove doctors out of the public system and lift the regulations that surround that, and you result in longer lines for the public at large.



You do realize this is the Alberta Politics thread, yes? And do you understand that you personally do not control what can or cannot be mentioned, right?

Anyway - a two tier system would be a.) more expensive [we know this from the US model], and b.) be less efficient and effective [also known from the US model].

The entirety of this response is based on observing the US. They do not have universal health care at all and don't have a two tier model. They have a single private pay system in reality where the government covers costs to the private providers for some users. I specifically noted Europe and not the US for a reason where universal systems with private pay components exists and deliver better and cheaper outcomes for patients.

You introduced the UCP in terms of my personal alignment. I never said anything about it. If you think pointing that out is somehow controlling what can and cannot be said is really just more of your inability to actually read what anyone says in between spewing propaganda posts.

[240glt]

Originally Posted by suburbia

Beyond the pale


LINK - https://twitter.com/ProgressAlberta/...39880064802818

That’s okay, we know where we stand with these vile degenerate UCP candidates. It’s nothing new or surprising. Welcome to 2019 in Alberta.

[Mikemike]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

PCNs are one of the greatest things to be implemented in our healthcare system in the last 10 to 15 years as far as I'm concerned. Having a myriad of services available under one roof can be very convenient and it certainly helps that all of the providers are connected.

As for having more private surgery don't listen to Suburbia. All he's doing is regurgitating Friends of Medicare propaganda. I know some surgeons and according to them the problem is not OR space nor that they're too busy. The problem is not being able to schedule nurses to assist in the OR. If private facilities had non-unionized nurses they would be much more efficient and much more cost effective. Most surgeons only get 1.0 to 1.5 days/week in the OR so it's not like they don't have the time to do more. How much time do surgeons get in private clinics? Probably a lot more! If the government continues to pay the bill I doubt many people would care if Dr. X performed their surgery at Public Hospital ABC or Private Facility XYZ. Competition is good!

It's not the unions that are stifling the availability of nurses. I've never heard of UNA trying to stop the creation of new positions, although they don't tend to like mandatory overtime. Seems to me like it's a lack of positions that comes from underfunding that would cause that particular problem. Paying nurses less will only increase turnover and make positions harder to fill.
OR time and availability IS limited, and again the reason for that is lack of funding.

[DKaz]

Kenney's going hard for the bigot vote. Hopefully the Calgarians can see through it. Weird, I thought Calgary was more progressive than Edmonton being a more white collar city than blue collared Edmonton.

[sammyd]

Originally Posted by suburbia

I think bridgeland is great now-a-days, but man that view would have looked completely different had the Conservatives not destroyed the Calgary General Hospital. Remember those years?

The General needed destroying. Were you in the blast radius? That might explain a few thousand posts.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by sammyd

The General needed destroying. Were you in the blast radius? That might explain a few thousand posts.

The General needed to be replaced. Not having a major hospital in the inner city is crazy as far as I'm concerned. Does any other city in North America not have a major hospital in its core area?

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Hardhatdan

The entirety of this response is based on observing the US.

Not really. The bandwidth of medical specialties being a fixed commodity is independently verifiable and right-wing belief in the all-mighty dollar has been independently proven.

You're in deep water.

[suburbia]

LINK - https://globalnews.ca/news/5124205/m...-gay-abortion/

[suburbia]

Wow! Right-wing activist investors are attempting twist TransAlta's arm into doubling down on coal-fired plants. Statement from TransAlta's CEO was that coal-first plants are a dead-end strategy. This is bad for the UCP, who just put out a policy plank that would keep coal-fired plants open for many more years.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/transalt...idea-1.1238237

[suburbia]

LINK - http://UCPplatform.ca/