[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by theg69

This is absolute garbage. I am only making this one post and staying away. I am a physician here in Alberta and contemplating leaving. You know what pisses me off. People who post garbage like this. Anyone can spew anecdotal garbage as well. I know of colleagues that have retired early and shut their practice down as well as other physicians who are leaving as well. There will be a list that will circulate at some point of all the physicians either withdrawing services or moving - I am not going to drag any names into it - but trust me, it is a substantial list.

Our billing have not been inflated, and it has nothing to do with the NDP - what we take home is not what we bill. Overhead ranges from 30-40%. Add to that - we have no pension, no EI, no benefits and our income does not look as glamourous as what the UCP will have you believe. The UCP press secretaries make more at the end of the day than what a lot of GPs make when it is all said and done when the benefits are taken into account. The misrepresentation of billings has drawn the ire of physicians. The irony is the richest segment of physicians, the Ophthalmologists have been eerily quiet because they stand to gain the most with privatization of services.

Also, if physicians weren't leaving, why the hell has Shandro sent out a message yesterday that they were thinking of legislating the College into forcing us to not able to leave. What other profession would that even be remotely acceptable in??

They have negotiated in bad faith from the beginning. The AMA acknowledged its a tough time for everyone and submitted a proposal with cuts that enabled the government to maintain their budgetary goals. Instead of negotiation, the government tore up our contract, threw out bills to privatize health care (to their friends and also to private companies that they themselves have shares in).

There have been so much misinformation that the government has put out re: this whole fight with physicians. Between the minister yelling at his neighbor doctor (who actually was a UCP supporter) and blocking people on twitter that do not support their narrative, nothing has been done in good faith.

Trying to paint us as greedy in the eyes of the public is what pisses us off to no end. We have been trying to negotiate this entire time and the government just refuses to listen, and instead of funding health care, education, etc, just pumps money into a dying industry and loses money on any investments they have made in the past.

I'm sorry for completely derailing this topic but when I see posts like this from Albertans, I honestly think I am better off leaving this province if that is the public sentiment. The only thing keeping me here is I do not want to abandon my patients in all honesty.

It is absolutely baffling that there are still people who support this government - using the cover of the pandemic to destroy health care, education, environmental protections, public parks and picking fights with doctors, nurses, teachers.

Please know that this is not the public sentiment. Hatred is being wielded like a cudgel by those who fear losing power- a tactic brought to us by the clown troop of UCP adherents who also served on the trump campaign. Our baby agricultural minister as an example.