Yesterday, we spoke in this space about the high costs of health care in this province.
Today, we focus on one of the hidden costs, one of the little over-runs that politicians will not be rushing to discuss in public.
"e-health" is all the rage.
Every jurisdiction in the land is pouring millions of tax dollars into the belief that all of your health care info should be in cyberspace and available at a mouse click to anyone who needs it asap.
Fair enough.
Trouble is, kids, corruption abounds.
"e-health" and e-anything is the new cement.
Used to be that when a new highway was being built somewhere, all you had to do is ask, "Whose cousin got the cement contract?"
Now, the game is the same, only the players and the sticky stuff have changed.
Charges laid against three linked to e-health project
Former top bureaucrat, MD consultant among those accused of corruption
In BC, the e-health caper is worth $259 million.
We Three Little Pigs have been hit with 16 charges of influence peddling, fraud and such.
In Ontario, the Auditor-General concluded $1-billion of taxpayer money had been mismanaged on that province’s e-health system. David Caplan resigned as health minister on the day the review was released last October.
Will The Falcon resign?
Not on your stethoscope.
Mr. Falcon stressed that the allegations stem from events that took place long before he took over the Health portfolio.
But they did take place on somebody's watch? Could we have that sucker up front and centre for an axplanation, please?
Not likely.
So...
In addition to all of the inefficiencies in the sytem, we now know that one of the reasons that our health care eats up so much of the budget is plain old-fashioned theft.
Yes, that's very healthy, thanks.
And has the Premier demanded answers on this misuse and abuse of public funds?
Seacrh me. I've been out of town for a few weeks.
Was that right between the Crosby goal and the closing ceremonies?
7 comments:
David, welcome home.
Something has happened that has finally made me mad enough to no longer support the BC Liberals.
Gordos drunk driving, selling BCR and the raid on the leg, carbon taxes, HST, cuts to every level of gov, tearing up contracts, olympdick waste, hidding olymdick costs, ALL OF THAT I was prepared to overlook.
BUT taking 750 million in profit from ICBC and using it for anything other than reducing my ICBC premium is the last straw. I hate ICBC and voted for Gordo in the first place because of a Liberal promise to get rid of ICBC. Spend one penny of ICBC money on anything other than our premiums and its the same as making us pay extra taxes on car insurance. So as someone whose family spends $1200 per month on ICBC I will phone a Liberal MLA and if they dont change this plan I will hold my nose and vote for the NDP. I may even renew my membership in the NDP if they get rid of James.
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There is NO way Campbell would sell ICBC, as long as he can use it as an ATM whenever he likes.
Mind, if he raids it long enough, and often enough...he can break that too - just like he's breaking BC Hydro. And we all know what he has planned for that Crown Corporation.
David, as much as the missing funds and fraud surrounding this caper...I have to wonder about the e-health system itself.
How safe is it from outside intrusion? Our MSP billing is done in the USA...are our e-health records uploaded to them? They must be...how else would they know when we change addresses, have additions to our families, or lose a family member, etc.
Exactly, what do WE know about our own e-health system? It's time to find out the TRUTH. Good luck with that.
"E" Health, bah . . . at not only the public's expense re dollars spent and wasted but in health care re actual level of care.
My GP has totally embraced this new technology to the point where a doctors appointment used to involve a little discourse between the doc and I, now it's mostly taken up with him speaking into and trying to manipulate his laptop to record what's going on with me. I can hardly get a word in edgewise and when I do it's as if I'm interfering with what's really important and that's not my health..
Exactly Anon 10:43 - and if you're in the Interior and need a specialist...don't be surprised to find yourself sitting in front of a computer screen with camera mounted, speaking to a doctor somewhere else in the Interior (Kelowna)with the same apparatus.
It saves him/her the trip, the cost, and the personal interaction that many doctors seem to be becoming averse to these days.
Now...you'd think with all those costs saved, using "tele-health" that the service would be better wouldn't you? NOT! You might as well sit in front of your mirror and talk to yourself - you'll walk away feeling better.
My doctor spends more time trying to figure out how to make his/her laptop work than they spend asking me the questions that would ultimately lead to them finding out what's really wrong. But - that takes time. More than the 7 minutes allotted. Bah! This government and every entity within it needs to be taken out and horsewhipped to within an inch of its proverbial life.
Clearly the problem is, as always, lack of funding. Last year, the average wage earner turned over 46.7% of their money to government. This must rise to at least 90% to pay for all that government exists to provide for everyone. And never mind the knuckledraggers yelling about COMMUNISM ...
Lack of money? That all depends on how many sides of the fence you can sit on.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/06/10/BCContracts/
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