By Mark Taliano
The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami of 2004, which killed over 230,000 people, annihilated local fishing communities. Those fisherfolk now reside in shanties far from the sea. And tourist resorts are being built where they once fished.
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina was 1,836. Floods broke the levees and demolished much of New Orleans, wiping out public hospitals and schools. Those institutions won’t be re-opened.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP have recently signed no-bid contracts to lay claim to vast oil reserves in war-torn Iraq. The war enabled those no bid contracts. What is the common thread through each of these tragedies? Shock (of the “Shock and Awe” variety).
Naomi Klein, in her book The Shock Doctrine, explains that corporations capitalize on tragedies like the tsunami in Asia, the floods in New Orleans, and the War in Iraq, to re-engineer societies. The hidden agenda works for the corporations, while the fisherfolk in Asia, the poor in New Orleans, and the victims in Iraq, continue to pay the price. Sometimes a costly crisis is “manufactured” to serve agendas.
John Snobelen, former Minister Of Education and Training in the Harris government, was taped saying that they needed to “bankrupt” and create a “useful crisis” in education, before initiating reform and privatization measures. Fortunately, his strategy didn’t remain a secret, and teachers were able to unmask it for the manipulative callousness that it was.
The seed of the Niagara Health Care mess has yet to be unmasked, and the system has become an underfunded and tragic embarrassment. Chilling stories abound. Recently, a relative of mine claimed that a Niagara Hospital’s treatment of his mother was “unconscionable”; similar tragedies are well documented and all too common. Well-funded hospitals don’t neglect patients. So the insidious thread has found yet another home in Niagara’s quilt. The business model of engineering this health care shock is impacting us directly. And the tacit hope is that we’ll be grateful when the new hospital is finally finished and operating. There will be a sigh of relief, and all will be well again. Not so.
Unless Emergency Departments in the southern tier are reopened, critical health care south of St.Catharines will remain sub-standard and unacceptable. Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine is consistent with what we are now experiencing in Niagara Health Care. Unsettling, but true.
Mark Taliano is a resident of Niagara, Ontario and a regular contributor to Niagara At Large.
(Click on Niagara At Large at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary of interest to residents in our greater Niagara region.)
Niagara At Large 
As much as Mr. Taliano may be correct, and the NHS has created a deliberate crisis to justify a gold plated facility as far away from South Niagara as possible, I have some simple questions. Is he asking the underemployed and impoverished communities of South Niagara to bleed more to reverse the underfunding? Is there any guarantee that funds raised in the already overtaxed communities of South Niagara will be used for the people of South Niagara or siphoned off to make NHS elites look good? What is Mr. Taliano’s end game?
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I appreciate your comment.
Information, Education, and Protest is my end-game. Canadians deserve better than a neo-Con/neo-Liberal re-engineering of society that effectively creates a caste system. We can do better than that.
Health Care and Education are levelling fields that allow all Canadians an equal chance to thrive. If those “levellers” aren’t there, we will pay the price down the road, as the Americans have.
Business people currently running Niagara Health Care are totally incompetent if the measure is equal and high quality health care for all in the Region.
My end game? Get Big Business out of Health Care and Education. The Federal and Provincial governments need to provide adequate funding for both, regardless of the “financial bottom line”.
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Well said Mr Taliano
Not only are Business Bureaucrats running the NHS but the lack of interest in high quality health care over the almighty dollar is reflected in the LHIN Board as well.
Our hope for change, following the Ombudsman Report , was negated when once again they ignored both the Medical Profession AND the Southern Tier. A recent opening on the LHIN Board has been filled with a “Businessman” from Ancaster.
With no representatives on the LHIN board from either the Medical field or from the Southern Tier our hope for an attitude adjustment is in vain.
Putting the Patient first will remain vacant words.
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Dr. William Hogg’s article, dated June 29, 2010, was very informative, particularly since he is qualified to address medical issues, unlike the Business Bureaucrats.
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Everyone, including the “Business Bureaucrats”, should take another look at Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko”.
Business /Insurance companies will make plenty of profits, but Health Care efficiencies will decline. And of course people will suffer.
Our Health Care role models should be the Europeans.
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Let’s face it – current governments and their trolls are trying to reverse all the social programs since the 1940’s for the benefits of their “friends”.
Who benefits if OHIP is cripped and private medical care is boosted? – doctors and pharmaceutical companies.
Together, if we all contribute – we can have a reasonable medical system. If not we have the American syste where the rich go to the front of the queue and the rest of us have to mortage our houses – if we still have one.
Together, we can support the aged and the unemployment can be retrained.
We are voting in politicians that are restoring the feudal system to enrich their “friends”. Look at all the homeless – do you remember any “homeless” twenty years ago, except for major alcoholics? NO!
It’s disgrace. We are being dragged down to the level of serfs. Go ahead and laugh at me – will you still be laughing at me five years from now?
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That Chris Wojnarowski would question Mark Taliano assessment does not surprise me and is the reason why I refused to collaborate with him in letters to the editor in the past,(and still do). It matters not now as they, the local Corporate rags will not print Don and My assessments of the corruption that exists so openly in Niagara.
Mark Taliano, Sue Salzer and Sheridan Alder head and hearts are on the right planet and while reading a book written by Lawrence Martin title
Harperland” It scares me to realize the depth of the collusion by these thugs in Ottawa and Queen’s Park as they like “Judases” sell out the people thay are suppose to represent and support. MAY THEY ALL ROT IN HELL
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Thanks Joe
I thought we were in agreement on the issue of impoverishment of our community. Please re-read my note. You will see that I am generally in agreement with Mark on this issue. It is with some surprise that your tone makes you appear to look with disdain on the unemployed, the poor and the working poor, the disenfranchised, the overtaxed, the elderly and the forgotten. Anyone can be a flame thrower. I choose to stand with those who work for solutions to very painful local problems in our community and choose not to take part in divisivness and name calling. I will pray for you in the hope that the Lord will release you from your bitterness.
May you and your family enjoy a peacful Christmas.
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Harris opened the doors to union busting, privatization and to government farming out its responsibilities to corporations whose sole responsibility is making money. Other governments since have also copied the US model. LHINs are designed to cut costs, not provide quality health care.
How to impower the people again? Perhaps Mohammad Yunus’ book, Banker to the Poor might provide a clue to those of us who feel powerless to change the status quo?
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Christine,
I’m relating this story to you second hand, but my relative’s mother also suffered head injuries (from falls), that lead to hospitalisation. While at the hospital, a bedsore developed that went as deep as the bone. The severity of the wound was clearly a case of neglect, and there were complaints registered to the hospital, but apparently they were glossed over.
I don’t blame the nurses or doctors. The full blame lies with the LHINs.
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This helps explain why Pesident George W. Bush just looked out of the AirForce #1 window at the devastation of Katrina and never bothered to use the full resources of the US government to bring relief to hundreds of thousands of poor american residents of New Orleans, stranded and helpless, Bush the oilman in action (none action) we are all considered collateral damage in the greater scheme of big oil. George.
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Public housing projects are being replaced by condos and hotels; public schools are being replaced by privatized education; and police are using batons and tasers to deal with citizen outrage at City Hall.
Is this the type of societal re-engineering (which they couldn’t have done without the inital shock of the hurricane) that we want?
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Since the beginning of ‘civilisation’, as opposed to nomadic tribes, we’ve been misled by our leaders, whether they be big governments, big companies, big unions or big religions. And since we all like simplicity, they reduce it to simple, quotable quotes that rile our emotions.
-w-
In the case of Ontario health care, we have Basic care paid by one public payer OHIP, to mostly Private businesses:
doctors, pharmacists, drug companies, ambulances, prosthetics, computers, high-technology, etc.
Then we have others who are directly employed:
nurses & other hospital workers, and some doctors.
And at a secondary level, we also allow private insurance companies to cover people with unions who negotiate Better-than-Basic coverage:
usually semi-private or private hospital rooms, drugs beyond OHIP, and several health methods Not covered by OHIP (perhaps because the Medical union won’t allow it?) – optometry, chiropractic, naturopathy, homeopathy, massage, reflexology, acupuncture, iridology, vitamin and herbal supplements, etc.
The question seems to be:
how to get the best value for our money by continuing to use public-private partnerships as we do now, or differently as the future evolves?
Change does Not necessarily mean a sellout. We should always question what ‘they’ do to us, but we should also ask how ‘they’ could do it Better. The job of politicians is to question the bureaucrats who seem to be always building their empires. Listening to people from different backgrounds is Very effective; let’s hope the NHS & our LHIN will soon pursue that task more seriously.
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Lorne,
I appreciate the specifics and clarifications.
Other examples though: Some of the most destitute in society need meds the most (i.e psychotropic meds) yet they don’t have private plans, so they can’t afford them, and they therefore don’t have access to them.
This “privatisation”, then, creates a multi-tiered system, wherein those with “drug plans” and/or money, have a clear advantage. Again, not a level playing field.
To make matters worse, the lucrative pharmaceutical industry demands high prices for its products.
But the pressing matter that the article deals with, really, is the issue of closing the E.R’s in outlying hospitals, which is blatantly ridiculous from a medical standpoint, though it MIGHT make sense to an accountant or an economist.
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An wealthy acquaintance of mine elected to have a stomach stapling procedure done in the States. Unfortunately, there were complications during the procedure. His medical bill turned out to be $1,000,000, and the last I heard, his friends/family didn’t know how to break the news to him. Do we really want this type of system??
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Mark, you stated above that the issue of Privatisation is NOT the subject of the article, just Management of the existing NHS by closing our outlying ER’s and centralising most services in St.Kitts.
Why then are you raising the red herring of Privatisation? NONE of us want the USA system and it’s NOT going to happen here.
Our model IS the European model, but we should learn lessons from everywhere. Our family just had $2000+ of OHIP-paid drugs issued incorrectly & wasted by the NHS. I’ve heard that right-wing Alberta has a system to recover & re-use drugs instead of wasting them – why can’t Ontario learn to do this? If the Yanks have good ideas, why can’t we learn from them too, without changing from our single-payer system?
For that matter, why are we locked into only the Medical school of healing? Why doesn’t OHIP pay for all of the other methods I mentioned above, much of which is Preventative, and often healthier and cheaper than drugs & surgery? Isn’t it the Medical types who have centralised the NHS?
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Mark, I forgot to mention that our multi-tiered system has been in place since Canadian Medicare was created in 1965. If anything, we’ve retreated from it -as you seem to want- by removing various drugs, procedures, Optometry, Chiropractic & other healing methods from OHIP.
Would our system be better if we banned private insurance for individuals, big companies & unions?
Would it be better if we banned all procedures except those covered by OHIP? (Where would new procedures originate – CT scans, MRI, etc.?)
Would it be better if every health worker were employed directly by OHIP?
Would it be better if all drug companies were owned by OHIP? (Where would new drugs originate?)
Would it be better if every ambulance & all its gear were built in factories owned by OHIP? (Where would better trucks & emergency gear originate?)
How far should we go?
Frankly, we’ve all misunderstood how OHIP & everything works in our mixed, private-public economy.
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Ok, the article does deal with privatisation, especially since part of the system (30%) is already privatized. I agree that more services should be covered under the public plan, especially since the public plan is more efficient and cost-effective than any private plan. From 1975-2009, medicare spending was 4-5% of G.D.P. The total health care bill, which includes spending not covered by Medicare (prescription drugs, dental, home care etc.) is currently at 12% of G.D.P. The private costs are soaring, not the public cost.
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Perhaps OHIP costs are not soaring because ‘they’ close hospital ER’s across Ontario, not because costs aren’t soaring for health-care in general as people live longer & we boomers retire.
Or maybe it’s because we’re over-relying on drugs & surgery?
Or maybe it’s because OHIP keeps cutting back on what it covers, forcing more of it into the ‘private’ sector to be paid by those who can afford to pay, or have private insurance (you are proposing to ban it, right)?
How DO you propose to bring all health-care costs into OHIP and PAY for it, without driving taxes so high that our private employers move to lower-wage places like … New York State? (We already have extra holidays and benefits USA that employers do NOT pay, and the USA dollar is falling fast. How many Ontarians will be looking for work elsewhere as our jobs migrate, and oil and raw materials costs raise the price of everything?)
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France, as an example, spends much more on the “social safety net” than Canada.
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Agreed. I always admired France … until I saw all of Europe crash, and France begin to retreat from its Social Safety Net – it just raised its retirement age from 62, despite a general strike.
What’s your prediction: will Canada be forced to raise the Old Age Pension start from age 65 as we boomers retire? Will we survive the Greater Depression if the USA doesn’t wake up & control its severe over-spending?
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The estimated cost of the P3 hospital in North Bay was 551 million. It ended up costing 1 BILLION dollars.
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Good point – both the private company AND the Crown failed. Crappy accounting control, eh? Was someone fired?
Darlington Nuclear Station was budgetted for $~4B by Crown-owned Ontario Hydro, and came in at $~14B. Crappy accounting control, eh? Was someone fired?
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I have an article coming up that deals with these issues. One correction though: The health care bill not covered by Medicare is 12% of G.D.P, while the medicare portion is 4-5% of G.D.P.
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Our health care system would be better if there were more government paid nurses and fewer privately paid (very poorly paid) out-sourced care workers.
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Pharmaceuticals are too expensive, prohibitively expensive in may cases, so universality of access is denied to people with less money. Ideally, the pharmaceutical industry would be public.
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The public sector, not the private sector, belongs in Education and Health Care. The private sector doesn’t belong where it is less efficient than the public system.
On the other hand, the government/public sector does not belong in the car/ambulance manufacturing industry. I oppose huge government bailouts to the auto industry, such as the last bailout. Why bail out a company if it makes a product that the public doesn’t want?
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I propose that Universal Health Care become “more universal”, because we can’t afford (literally and figuratively) the alternative. The public system does it better than the private system.
We should also increase taxes on gasoline/fuel so that we can become world leaders in alternate fuel sources. The future is in alternate sources of energy, not carbon sources. First world countries that subsidize fossil fuels will ultimately go backwards, economically, rather than forwards. We lag behind the Europeans big time when it comes to alternate energies.
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Predictions? I’m not good at that. But the U.S needs a “Peace Dividend”, which they don’t currently have now, with two foreign wars. They made a mess in Iraq, and the costs are enormous, not only in treasure, but in future security. One problem with petroleum is it enables despots to become very powerful.
If Canada chooses the right path, which it isn’t currently doing, then we shouldn’t have to touch the government pension plan. The plan should be expanded actually. Too many people falling through the cracks.
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A hip replacement in a private hospital in Alberta costs $21,780.00. The same procedure in a non-profit hospital costs $10,000.00.
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