Quote:
Originally Posted by Beatle17
this is BS NDP talking points. The NDP catered to the unions to get elected and did nothing for the staff but inflated billing by doctors. I have 7 direct relatives, siblings/spouse/children working in the health care field. They have all had opportunities in other provinces/states and have all declined because of the cost of living, insurance and work conditions compared to Alberta. Get off the union and NDP talking points - SORRY FOR DERAILING BUT THIS TOPIC BEING BROUGHT UP ALL THE TIME PISSES ME OFF. And name me one doctor who has left and stayed away.
|
As part of my work, I supervise (for at least one block) about 12 family medicine residents a year. Of the ones I have asked in the past 6 months, every single one is leaving. If I didn't have a 4 kids in local schools and universities, I'd leave, too. The disrespect and bullying (including pulling confidential contact information to phone doctors and the Health Minister himself showing up on a doctor's doorstep unannounced to berate him in his own home) are unbelievable, and there is complete uncertainty about the future, because the government has overridden doctors' right to freedom of association and given itself carte blanche to do whatever it wants in regards to its contractual relationship with doctors. I agree that changes need to be made to improve the quality and efficiency of health care, but those who are experts in providing it should be consulted as part of the process. Most of the government's changes will increase health care costs by shifting care from lower-cost providers and settings to those that are more expensive. There are changes that could be made in the system to significantly reduce costs, but the government has shown no interest in considering them, and it out of hand rejected an offer by the AMA to cut fees across the board in spite of the fact that there was a valid contract in place at the time and Alberta's doctors were under no obligation to make such an offer. And don't get me started about the government's signing of a massively bloated contract with a multinational corporation to separate healthy, young, uncomplicated patients from their family doctors in the midst of a pandemic and then advertising this MNC on the government's own website and social media, at a cost of care significantly higher than if those patients had remained with their family doctors.
Fortunately for the Flames, the players' health care is largely managed privately by the team (although this did recently result in a controversy about players having early access to influenza shots).
Anyway, I hope that it's nothing serious with the Flames who are being held out, the team is already (if you include Hamonic's opting out) getting to be about as short staffed as they were at any point throughout the regular season (they have had remarkably good health the last 2 seasons), without a single game being played.