Nutty Stuff Archives - Page 5 of 8

9 Of The Most Staggeringly Awful Statements Republicans Have Made About Health Care Just This Year

June 5, 2017

In 2009, Rep. Alan Grayson characterized the Republican approach to health care as “don’t get sick, and if you do, die quickly.” Eight years later, the Florida Democrat’s words ring truer than ever, especially in light of the House’s passage of the American Health Care Act.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would deprive 23 million of health insurance by 2026, resulting in substantial premium hikes and out-of-pocket expenses for older Americans and people with preexisting conditions. And the more Republicans are confronted with the devastating consequences of Trumpcare, the more evident it becomes how clueless they are on the Affordable Care Act specifically and health care more generally.

Bank tells senior who got stuck in Antarctica he’s too old for credit card’s travel insurance

June 1, 2017

OTTAWA – Robin Farquhar has one of those wonderful-sounding travel credit cards, ScotiaGold Passport Visa, that comes with six types of insurance coverage — everything from burglary to lost luggage to cancelled flights.

As a longtime Bank of Nova Scotia customer, imagine his reaction, a year ago, when he tried to claim for missed flights after being trapped in Antarctica due to bad weather.

Denied. You’re too old.

Farquhar, 78, is taking the bank to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for what he sees as an obvious case of age discrimination because the coverage is only available to those 65 and under.

P.E.I. man wants to know why he pays HST on electricity he generates himself

May 31, 2017

Every aspect of Kris Currie’s home in New Dominion, P.E.I., was designed to minimize energy usage — from the thickness of the walls, to the position of the windows, to the choice of appliances, like a heat pump-powered clothes dryer.

Even the paint colour on the interior walls was chosen to reflect natural sunlight, so no lights have to be on during daytime.

The result is what’s known as a “net-zero home,” meant to generate all the power it needs over a year from the 35 solar panels on the roof.

What Currie didn’t know when he built the home is that “net-zero” doesn’t apply when it comes to the HST.

American conservatives love to bash Canadian health care — but U.S. corporations love it

May 28, 2017

President Donald Trump has been pushing hard, along with Republicans in Congress, to eliminate former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. But as he and leaders of the Senate and House struggle to come up with some alternative health care law, they might ask themselves why large companies like General Motors, Ford and Chrysler (now Fiat Chrysler) over recent decades have shifted roughly half their car and truck production — and the jobs that go with them — across the Detroit River into Canada.

Here’s one big reason they did it: Canada’s government-run single-payer health system, known as Medicare — to be clear, not the same Medicare as the American health care system for senior citizens — lowers those auto companies’ health care costs from more than $15,000 per worker in the United States to just a few thousand dollars in Canada, with all Canadian taxpayers, not just employees and their employers, picking up the tab.

Could governments and oil companies get sued for inaction on climate change?

May 23, 2017

Eight hundred million dollars: that’s the potential price tag of the rising ocean in Vancouver. The city needs a new storm surge barrier to stop flooding if, according to municipal planners, sea levels climb by one metre this century due to climate change.

When discussing this scenario last fall, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said something that made Andrew Gage perk up and listen from his law office in Victoria. “There are direct costs to our taxpayers, but this is not an act of God,” Robertson reportedly said. “This is tied directly to human activity.”

Translation for Gage: Maybe it’s not just Tracy and Tom Taxpayer who should be on the hook for the new storm barrier. Maybe whoever is to blame for the rising ocean should fork over some cash.

What Trump’s agenda means for Canadian health care

May 22, 2017

TORONTO, Ont./Troy Media/ – Americans face a growing threat to their health. And it could have a negative impact in Canada.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA). If the bill becomes law, it could leave millions in the U.S. without care.

Just over a month ago, efforts to pass AHCA imploded before the bill could even be brought to a vote. Now there’s a real chance it could come to fruition, transforming American health care for the second time in a decade.

Why is the issue of health care in the U.S. so fraught? And is Canada immune to the social whiplash underway south of us?

Health care system leaves Oshawa man in limbo five months after shoulder injury

May 17, 2017

OSHAWA — Oshawa MPP Jennifer French is highlighting the impact of surgical wait times by sharing the story of an Oshawa man who has been waiting five months and still hasn’t had a needed shoulder surgery scheduled.

With snow and ice on the ground, Steve Border went down after taking a bad step off a deck on Dec. 19.

“I landed on my elbow and immediately felt something in my shoulder,” he explains.

The next day he attended an urgent care clinic in Oshawa. He was sent for an X-ray and ultra sound in short order, although the X-ray found no broken bones, the ultrasound showed damage and he was referred for an MRI for which he waited a month.

Grey matters: Mistreatment and abuse of patients in long-term care homes is anything but rare

May 16, 2017

It was over 3 decades ago, but I still remember the elegant surroundings I saw when I stepped out of the car: the freshly clipped lawn, the stone façade, the oak door. It was the first day of an audit at a long-term-care facility. I’d come equipped with my briefcase, working papers and calculator. But nothing prepared me for what I’d find inside.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the smell of bleach, of institutional food, of despair.

To reach the accountant’s office, I walked past people sitting in wheelchairs who reached out, trying to catch my attention. I walked past people in rooms, calling out from their beds. And I walked past a nursing station where staff talked and laughed, seemingly oblivious to the misery around them.

Every day I walked down that hall; every night I went home and wept. It may be 30 years later, but the problems remain.

Canada’s border stations letting vehicles through without required inspections, audit shows

May 16, 2017

Canadian border officers have been allowing people into the country at land crossings without conducting the necessary checks, the auditor general has revealed.

Auditors reviewed a sample of 19 million vehicles that entered Canada over a 12-month period and found anomalies in 511,000 cases.

When auditors drilled down to a small 66-vehicle sample, they found 38 cases where border officers didn’t scan or manually enter information from traveller documents.

Auditors figure two per cent of those 19 million vehicles didn’t go through the required inspections.

“Since each vehicle could contain more than one individual, this meant that more than 300,000 individuals likely entered the country without a full inspection,” the audit says.

Bullying, harassment thrive at RCMP, watchdog says in calling for major reforms

May 15, 2017

Bullying and harassment remain serious problems within the RCMP and only major changes to the way the police force is run will make a difference, says a national watchdog.

In a report Monday, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP said the force lacks both the will and the capacity to address the challenges that afflict its workplaces.

The commission urged the government to usher in civilian governance or oversight for the paramilitary-style police force.

A second federal report released Monday, a review by former auditor general Sheila Fraser of four harassment lawsuits from female members, also called for substantial reforms.