So Those With Pre-Existing Conditions Will Be Penalized, It Seems… In Quebec of all Places….Update

And yes, that would include you too Jabba the Roy and Ricky P. Your BMI is a goin’ to cost ya more.

Oh yes, Redneck Ryan must be green with envy now as he was touting this kind of idea on his show. Tax those who need more health care services. I believe he said, it would get him to the gym in short order or something along those lines. I did email or tweet him subsequently mentioning that not all sick people had it coming due to a less than healthy life style. I gave as examples: kids born with cystic fibrosis and/or other disabilities and chronic conditions. How about that cancer patient or kidney dialysis patient who go to hospitals regularly in order to receive treatment? Of course, Redneck Ryan never answered.

Well, Ryan, dear, this one’s for you!!

The Charest Government just brought down it’s provincial budget. We all knew it could be painful. No big surprises really: upping the Quebec Sales Tax over the next few years, hike in gas prices, hikes in, of course, hydro fees. The usual right of center type of budget that so rarely helps the working class.

However, what was a bit surprising, was the new health care ‘contributions’: 25$ for 2010; 100$ for 2011; 200$ for 2012 per person. It is a tax, but CJAD’s Ricky P: apparently semantics are important. Not for me. Bigger fish to fry than to dwell on the wording of service fees we will be paying in a service everyone of us has to use at some point, or another. Those fees mentioned above don’t really bother me all that much. Even that 200$ come 2012 is still much MUCH cheaper than private health insurance our neighbours to the south must pay for, in addition to their co-pays, deductibles and their ‘coverage ceilings’. If Gawd forbid I have chest pains again or get hit by a truck, I can still go to the nearest ER and be treated without worrying about being booted out. Also, lower income families will be exempted from this fee.

However, they also talked of something I don’t understand, so anyone who caught today’s Quebec budget who can explain this, please do so in comments or email me. They mentioned (the way I understand it) that in addition, we would be penalized the more often we go to the hospital? What exactly do they mean? Does that include walk in clinic visits? Visits to the specialist? Visits to a family doctor?  Patients undergoing regular chemo or radiation treatments for cancer or Kidney patients going through dialysis? What about a person with Cerebral Palsy or another disability?  They didn’t get that way from eating badly or smoking.  Again, please, if someone can explain this to me…

That was exactly the problem I had with Redneck Ryan’s proposal on a show he did not long ago about issuing higher taxes for the most health care services used and required. The same problem I have with the fees that I”m not clear on in the  last paragraph above. Those kind of fees are what set a dangerous precedent. Discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, just like in the U.S. I am terrified as to what path this leads us on.

As for  Ricky P who is whining at the idea of being charged health care fees and more paperwork to fill out come tax return season, (assuming he, like most Conservatives support private for profit health care a la United States; If not, then as you were),  why do they complain about the government user fees but these very same cons advocate and even lobby for private for profit, which clearly, would still be a hell of a lot more expensive, surely far less regulated and yes, still a lot of small print?  Oh! I  bet I know!! Because the gov’t health care system can’t be traded on the stock exchange the way private for profit health insurance companies do, as well as private facilities.

Update:  one of my questions was answered, regarding that whole  the more you use it; the more you pay for it thang. That is not part of the Quebec Budget right now per se,  but at the end of the year when you fill out your tax return form, that is when they will probably insert a questionaire asking questions like how often we see the doctor over the past year and such and they would use this info to pass a bill to charge penalties to those who use the health care system often. Nice!

I can’t help but wonder if this is an underhanded way to drum up more business for the private for profit facilities in Quebec? Yes, stupid, as it would (for now anyway) still  be more expensive than the tax bill. However, more and more folks are dumb enough to think that they will still have more money in their pockets if they’re not paying user fees;  wankettes such as more than likely Kim Fraser and Trudy Mason.

Second Update: Well, not really an update, more like something I forgot to update.

Yes, I predicted the Wank Fest would be whining about the budget and they did not fail to disappoint.

Other than the Americanizing of health care experiment, which I sincerely hope doesn’t see the light of day,  I’m starting re examine the high lights of Quebec’s new budget.

More to come in another post I’m working on. Should be out soon.