PDF - National Union of Public and General Employees

OBITUARIES
TAKE A
CTION
ACTION
SPEAK out for the good of your
health. No one can do everything
—but every single one of us can
do something. Encourage your
friends and co-workers to find out
more.
URGE the federal government to
O
UR MEDICARE IS SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE.
It is the best health care plan in the world. Everybody says so. Even the Americans.
The only ones who don’t say so , are those who can’t
stand not to be making a buck off our pain and suffering. That is insurance companies and the
corporations that build and run big hospitals. It’s
been forty years since we rejected their for-profit way
and created no-profit Medicare for ourselves. The
corporations still can’t believe it. They still work hard
at trying to shake our faith in our Medicare.
They can’t. And they won’t. Not so long as we remember how it is when health care becomes a
cash-and-carry, for-profit private enterprise: care is
expensive, inadequate and inequitable. Any hope of
full care without financial ruin depends on whether
or not you are covered by a private plan. Even then
there are no guarantees.
When insurance companies have to choose between
our health or their wealth, we often lose. Medicare
eliminates ever being faced with that choice.
Medicare is all ours. We made it. We like it. We
want to keep it.
That’s something to celebrate.
That’s something to defend!
implement the Romanow Report:
Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone (613) 992-2848
Fax (613) 996-9764
e mail: Aglukkaq.L@parl.gc.ca
READ the National Union brief to
the Romanow Commission and
find other health care resources:
www.nupge.ca
national@nupge.ca
CONNECT with your neighbours and get involved in a local
Medicare campaign; get fresh
information; get email addresses
for your MP and your MLA; link
up with a trade union:
www.nupge.ca
www.healthcoalition.ca
www.clc-ctc.ca
WILSON Bernice Elisa R.N.-54 at
home on Sunday April 31, after a
brave fight with cancer. Beloved
wife of Howard. Loving mother of
Kathryn and her husband Brian of
Woodstock, Judy Brown and her
husband Brad of Elmvale. Dear
grandma of Rose, Ivy and Iris.
Bernice was a 25-year employee of
General Hospital, a member of the
College of Nurses. She was a volunteer convenor of friendly visiting
volunteer service with the General
Hospital Auxiliary.
and nurses at the General Hospital. Special thanks to Garry’s sister
Brenda, Rev. Frank Streamside,
Clarence, John, Brendon, Marie
and the staff of the C.W. Barnes
Funeral Home.
IN MEMORIUM
ROBINSON In loving memory of
my dear husband and father who
passed away April 9, 1996.
A bouquet of roses just for you.
Sprinkled with tears instead of
dew.
And in the centre, a forget-me-not,
To let all know we still love you a
lot.
May the winds of love blow softly
And whisper so you’ll hear
How we still love and miss you
And wish that you were here.
Always in our hearts. Loved by
wife Bernice, son Eddie, daughters Prissy, Pam and Pru and
families. Happy birthday Dad,
April 10.
HOW
HEALTH
INSURANCE
COMPANIES
MAKE SURE
YOUR HEALTH
ABBOTT Mary M. In loving
of our Mom, who passed
CAN’T BE memory
CARD OF THANKS
away April 10, 1998.
When ties of love are forever broSMITH A sincereHARMFUL
thank you for TO
ken
your calls, cards, visits and offers
And death forces us to part
of transportation. Your support
THEIR
WEALTH
It leaves a wound that never heals
and caring have been appreciated
WHITE David William-60, of
Centreville, Kings County, died
Saturday, March 24, 2002 in the
Valley Regional Hospital. He was
a retired truck driver, having
worked with Reliable Transport. No
visitation by request. Burial in the
Elm Grove Cemetery. Donations
in memory may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Valley
Regional Hospital CT Scan Fund.
through Brian’s long illness.
BULLOCK We would like to thank
our family and friends for all the
cards, phone calls, food and flowers. Thank you to those who made
donations to the VON and Diabetes Assoc. Thank you to doctors
And so many broken hearts.
Memories come this time each
year,
Of the one Mom we loved so dear.
And though we often shed a tear
In our hearts you’re always near.
Loved and remembered every day.
Do us all a big
favour and die.
They can give us:
• better care faster
than in a public plan
• more personal
control over our care
• more care for our
money.
Plus take the pressure
off Medicare.
This is not the truth. The
whole truth. Or anything
like the truth.
Watch out for
the fine print.
You’re not sick
unless we say so.
It is sometimes c
heaper to let
cheaper
You will ne
ver rreall
eall
y under
nev
eally
under--
The insur
ance compan
y calls
insurance
company
you die than tr
eat y
ou.
treat
you.
stand ho
w y
our plan w
orks.
how
your
works.
all the shots.
PRIVATE HEALTH INSURERS deny people care by
refusing to pay for the care. This saves the company money, of course. It also vastly improves
the return to private shareholders.
This is not a sick joke. Dr. Linda Peeno
worked as a director and medical claims reviewer
for US medical corporations Humana and Blue
Cross/Blue Shield. She testified to the US House
of Representatives that:
“I denied a man a necessary operation. This
caused his death. No person and no group has
held me accountable for this because what I did
saved a company a half million dollars. In fact,
just the opposite occurred...It became very clear
that I was actually expected to deny care as
much as possible—to keep a minimal denial rate
and that if I didn’t I would be replaced. I have
since discovered that experiences like mine are
standard practice and quite ordinary for the
managed care business in the USA.”
INSURANCE COMPANIES take great care to design policies that are cryptic, confusing, filled with
complex legal terminology and seemingly endless in explanation.
The “renewability clause” is just one example. It allows the company to cancel your policy
at any time. This can happen even if you’ve never
submitted a claim.
Most people have no idea about this clause
until they receive a letter telling them they have
30 days to find other insurance providers.
Another example is the policy distinction
made between “emergency” and “urgent” care. In
some health plans, conditions such as a broken
hip are not classified as conditions that require
emergency ER care. They are, instead, classified
as “urgent” conditions. You can’t just get to the
ER. You must get company authorization to go to
the ER. Sometimes you get it. Sometimes you
don’t.
With Canada’s Medicare, if you’re sick
you get all the care you need for as long
as you need it. Period. Full stop. The
end.
Canada’s Medicare has no fine print to With Canada’s Medicare all decisions
decode. It covers every person; in every about care are left up to those needing
place; with every illness; at every income treatment and their doctors.
level; and never for profit. Simple.
IN THE USA, your treatment is in the complete
control of a private health insurance company.
They arrange it so they control everything about
your care.
They control what doctor you choose to go
to by using a trick called “phantom networks.”
This is a list almost filled with doctors who won’t
accept new patients, or doctors no longer associated with that plan.
You’re free to choose your doctor from this
list. But, the only doctors on the list who are actually available are ones the insurance company
wants you to choose.
The New York Attorney General’s Office is investigating this very shady practice.
Another control mechanism the companies
use is to write “gag clauses” into the contracts
they sign with doctors. This means doctors cannot talk to you first about your diagnosis and
treatment options. They must first get clearance
from an insurance company bureaucrat.