Danny Williams medicare debate Part II

John Gedded has an excellent piece in Macleans on the Danny Williams health care controversy. He concludes:

"Canada should be looking for ways to adapt, not revolutionize, health care. If the path from primary physician to specialist is shorter in the U.S., learn from that. If, as I’ve been told recently by Canadian doctors, Britain has done better at cutting wait times within a public system, learn from that. If Europe is broadly better at computerized records, there’s our classroom.

"None of these potential lessons, I’m afraid, has zing to match of the saga of a millionaire politician jetting south for surgery. Personal stories are fun to tell. Policy requires charts and graphs."

His observations bolster the case for the universal healthcare insurance that we have in Canada.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/24/the-health-debate-beyond-the-danny-williams-story/?om_rid=Ay6UJ1&utm_source=_BLiAUdB77aB2nj&utm_content=ml19&utm_medium=email

Commonwealth Fund, Danny Williams, health care, wait times

Danny Williams and medicare

Lorrie Golstein asks why are lib-left commentators giving Danny Williams an easy pass after he went to US for cardiac surgery. The columnist then indulges in the usual right-wing diatribe on why we need two-tier medicine in Canada.

There are some legitimate questions as to why people are letting Danny Williams off the hook on this. I think the main reason he went to Florida is because he could recuperate in the sun in his Sarasota condo.

The bottom line is that the Premier is responsible for health care in Newfoundland and Labrador. Hence, he should hacve accessed the surgery he needed here in Canada where it is available.

lorrie.goldstein@sunmedia.ca

Danny Williams, medicare, heathcare, two-tier medicine

Will King Danny sweep the province?

I just returned from a week in Newfoundland. It happened to be the first week of the NL election campaign. In NL Danny is referred to as King. His popularity ratings pre-election were in the 80+ range. Given his personal popularity, pundits have been predicting a clean sweep of the provincial seats by Williams Conservatives. While there is little doubt that Danny will increase the number of Conservative seats, my impression is that he will not achieve a clean sweep. In rural Newfoundland, the traditional Liberal heartland there is still a perception that the economic boom of recent years has benefited primarily St. John's and the surrounding Avalon Peninsula but not the outports. There has been an increasing outmigration of rural Newfoundlanders to Alberta, particularly Fort MacMurray and jobs in developing the tar sands. Liberal Leader Gerry Reid is waging an uphill fight against the Williams juggernault, in particular accusing Williams of ignoring the fishery. It appears likely that reid and a few of his colleagues will hold their seats to provide some opposition to King Danny.