by Diane Wilson
This week President Obama stood before the American people and made his case for health care. As The Economist reports, reforming health care is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the President. Whether it is or it isn't, this is something that needs doing, as close to 50 million Americans are currently uninsured -- this in a land that is called the wealthiest nation on earth.
In this can-do country that others only seek to emulate, exorbitant health insurance premiums cripple the middle class, and insurance is routinely denied to people with pre-existing conditions. Careers are planned around health benefits. Contract workers lose their jobs, their homes and their health insurance. President Obama pointed out, "If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day.”
There is one single question that most disturbs opponents of the Obama plan: Who will pay for it? In this what's in it for me moment, the government would be hard pressed to proceed with any initiative that betters life for the citizens. Transportation. Public Buildings. The whole purpose of government is to provide services and protect the public good.
Perhaps the issue has been framed so wrong for so long that people just see red at the mention of public health care. It is possible that people just cannot grasp that we are not talking about some vague issue but rather the health of of their fellow countrymen. America depends on its productivity. That said, productivity and health run hand in hand.
President Obama has said that his health care plan will not add to the deficit and that two-thirds of the program could be paid for by trimming the fat on existing programs. But it is the taxation component that has people riled. It will fall on those most able pay -- the wealthiest -- to shoulder the burden of health care through taxes. This horrific information is offset by the fact that Obama is eager to drive costs down. Given that burgeoning American health care costs are not sustainable, Obama's desire to trim costs should appeal to everybody.
Obama's health care plan will not be popular. His opponents will continue to run ads depicting shoddy medical treatment in Canada. The fear factor will not work because Obama currently has people on his side. He needs to grab the legislators and make health care happen now, or he will miss the opportunity to keep American people -- all American people -- well.
July 24, 2009
July 23, 2009
Toronto: A City in Peril
Garbage and Pandemic Planning
by Diane Wilson
Toronto's month long civic workers strike that has crippled garbage collection has its tentacles in more services than you know. It even affects pandemic planning. In today's The Toronto Star, renowned microbiologist Allison McGeer warns that Toronto may suffer more H1N1 deaths because of the civic workers' strike. I will say that again: Toronto may suffer more H1N1 deaths because of the civic workers strike. McGeer is head of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital and a noted authority on pandemic planning. She was also the voice of reason during the SARS outbreak.
Apparently, there are about 1,800 unionized employees from the Toronto Public Health Unit on strike. These individuals were supposed to be spending the summer planning for the second wave of the H1N1 virus, which is scheduled to hit North America in September. During the summer, pandemic management advice should have been going out to institutions and plans for vaccination clinics should have been made.
McGeer's comments are in line with the thinking of the World Health Organization, which has declared a level 6 pandemic -- news that should not have been taken lightly. We are told to wash our hands and all that to prevent the spread of germs. But wouldn't our city be cleaner if we took away these towering hills of aging garbage? I worry about the spread of disease through vermin when you have so much uncollected garbage sitting for weeks on end in our neighbourhoods.
Okay, health's not your thing. How about a sagging economy? When the world is sputtering in a global recession and travel dollars are being squeezed like never before, isn't it a crying shame that Toronto has turned off the lights? The ferries to the island are on strike, leaving places like Centreville closed. Public pools are closed. Builders have been unable to collect building permits and have had to lay off employees. Day camps are closed.
Toronto is a city of contradictions. Torontonians are paying five cents a bag at all stores. The idea was that we would use our cloth sacks to bring home the goods and then we would compost and recycle. We are a noble lot of foolish people! We go to all this trouble and expense and now the strike has us throwing all our waste -- compost and not -- into monstrously large green plastic garbage bags, which are tossed next to our neighbours to rot for weeks on end.
Few of us fully understand the reasons these city workers went out on strike, although I bet some of the reasons are very good. Unfortunately, nothing can top the urgency and importance of a global pandemic and a global recession. We have precious few days to get down to serious planning and confront a future in which sick days will be so consumed that prized sick banks will vanish. This strike has run its course. It is time for the mayor and the premier to lead.
by Diane Wilson
Toronto's month long civic workers strike that has crippled garbage collection has its tentacles in more services than you know. It even affects pandemic planning. In today's The Toronto Star, renowned microbiologist Allison McGeer warns that Toronto may suffer more H1N1 deaths because of the civic workers' strike. I will say that again: Toronto may suffer more H1N1 deaths because of the civic workers strike. McGeer is head of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital and a noted authority on pandemic planning. She was also the voice of reason during the SARS outbreak.
Apparently, there are about 1,800 unionized employees from the Toronto Public Health Unit on strike. These individuals were supposed to be spending the summer planning for the second wave of the H1N1 virus, which is scheduled to hit North America in September. During the summer, pandemic management advice should have been going out to institutions and plans for vaccination clinics should have been made.
McGeer's comments are in line with the thinking of the World Health Organization, which has declared a level 6 pandemic -- news that should not have been taken lightly. We are told to wash our hands and all that to prevent the spread of germs. But wouldn't our city be cleaner if we took away these towering hills of aging garbage? I worry about the spread of disease through vermin when you have so much uncollected garbage sitting for weeks on end in our neighbourhoods.
Okay, health's not your thing. How about a sagging economy? When the world is sputtering in a global recession and travel dollars are being squeezed like never before, isn't it a crying shame that Toronto has turned off the lights? The ferries to the island are on strike, leaving places like Centreville closed. Public pools are closed. Builders have been unable to collect building permits and have had to lay off employees. Day camps are closed.
Toronto is a city of contradictions. Torontonians are paying five cents a bag at all stores. The idea was that we would use our cloth sacks to bring home the goods and then we would compost and recycle. We are a noble lot of foolish people! We go to all this trouble and expense and now the strike has us throwing all our waste -- compost and not -- into monstrously large green plastic garbage bags, which are tossed next to our neighbours to rot for weeks on end.
Few of us fully understand the reasons these city workers went out on strike, although I bet some of the reasons are very good. Unfortunately, nothing can top the urgency and importance of a global pandemic and a global recession. We have precious few days to get down to serious planning and confront a future in which sick days will be so consumed that prized sick banks will vanish. This strike has run its course. It is time for the mayor and the premier to lead.
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