More of an informative post than anything else.
As a doctor, we recognize that we do make fairly decent money here in Alberta. That being said, we did do post-secondary education for at least 10 years minimum (I guess 8 if you were smart and entered medicine after Year 2), accumulated student loan to the tune of 20 grand per year during medical school (not including undergrad). So, we feel we should be compensated fairly.
First point - doctors are not looking for a fee increase, we are fighting a wage cut. The propaganda that has been out saying that they were imposing a wage "raise" were false. They are trying to cut the retention benefit and business cost program (which results in an average of 10-15% paycut). This is tough to swallow especially in light of the pay raise the MLAs gave themselves.
Second point - they compare our salaries to the rest of the country. Point missed - most professions in Alberta make at least 20% more than the rest of the country - call it the Alberta incentive. Say if you were an engineer, accountant, etc - people move here because the pay is better. So its a little misleading the stuff they are feeding people.
Third point - before the election, the PC government promised to re-open negotiations in good faith after the election if they were elected. They subsequently tried to force an imposition on us. So the example is if the owners in the NHL did the same thing to the players during the negotiation - they would write up a contract and force the players to take it without any concessions. How fair is that? The AMA proposed mediation and arbitration, in which the government promptly rejected.
Fourth point - I don't know how much people know about Family care centers and clinics but this is the brainchild of Allison Redford. From our perspective, this is a waste of money. We already have Primary Care Networks in place that do much of the same thing but what the government is doing is opening these FCCs and forcing some of these PCNs to close down - so called reinventing the wheel. There was also no consultation with doctors who are supposed to work at these FCCs and the whole goal is to take away control from us. Would you like your care dictated by the government?
I just wanted to express our angle and our frustrations with what Allison Redford and Fred Horne are doing. In a sense, we feel like we are not an equal negotiating partner and I believe if what she wants comes to fruition, there will be a lot of angry doctors. I think that a health care system that relies on angry and disenchanted doctors will not give the public the care it needs and in the long run cost everyone more money. The government is much too short-sighted to see that.
/end rant
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