Defend Public Healthcare

Not all beds in "long-term care" facilities provide long-term care. "Convalescent care" beds are a form of "short-stay" beds in long-term care (LTC) facilities.  Convalescent beds receive an extra $70.94 more per day than standard long-term care beds.  That's 45.7% more funding than the $155.18 for a standard bed.   Started in 2005, the LTC "convalescent care" program is now   a “Home First Program” that is designed, in part, to reduce hospital Alternate Level of Care (ALC) days.  “As not all patients are ready to return home immediately from the hospital, convalescent care is proving to be a solution suitable for patients that no longer need hospitalization but are still too frail to go home.”    The LTC convalescent care focus is supposed to be on rehabilitation, daily living activities, restorative care, physiotherapy for strengthening, and “specific client goals that will support their transition back home”.   Patients can stay fo

It's now apparent that the Pogressive Conservatives will allow the Liberals to batter teachers and school support staff with legislation imposing takeaways. Even if this legislation does  pass, the question is what will the twin parties do to the rest of the public sector? There is, after all, a lot more bargaining coming up. Is more legislation coming from the twins? While I'm no lawyer, sweeping legislation covering all workers in the public sector sounds like it may have more constitutional problems than legislation covering this or that bargaining unit after there has been a genuine attempt by the employer to bargain a collective agreement. But if the Liberal/PCs have to bring in legislation imposing a compensation freeze and concessions unit by unit, that is going to bring an awful lot of political problems for them.

In the past, government might legislate workers back to work after a lengthy strike or lock-out. Usually, the parties were directed to settle their dispute through an independent arbitrator. Such intrusions by government into free collective bargaining however have gotten  rapidly worse  in the last year or so. Just over a year ago, the Ontario Liberals brought in legislation permanently banning walk-outs at the TTC.   Then in June, after several weeks on strike, postal workers were legislated back to work by the federal government.  They were told they had to settle their dispute with Canada Post through an employer-biased arbitration process (which they have subsequently fought in the courts, with some success).  The Feds also announced in June that they would legislate Air Canada ticket agents back to work less than a day after they walked off the job.  In October, the government told flight attendants even before they could strike that they would legislate them back to work too

"We are going to have to take money out of the hospitals. It's not a small amount. We're talking about millions," Debbie Hammond, CEO of the government's Central East Local Health Integration Network told the Scarborough Mirror . One result is hospitals will specialize, focusing on what they do best, Rouge Hospital CEO John Wright said. "Not all hospitals will do all things. That is coming and that is exactly what the government wants."  Some services will move out of hospitals into the community, and hospitals will work with each other, "sorting out who does what," Wright added.  "There's no way to say, 'I want a full-service hospital in my backyard.' The hospital will go bankrupt and close." Centralizing hospital services across regions will make those services harder to access as families are forced to travel further to access services and visit loved ones.   Those without cars will be especially hard hit. Servi

Below is a list of the 11 US health corporations on the Fortune 500 list.  They had a combined revenue of approximately $272 billion in 2011.   They make about $15 billion in profits. These aren't your friendly mom and pop businesses.  This is BIG business. Trying to reform America's largely for-profit health care system is bound to come up against these interests.  With such large revenue streams they have incredible power and resources to divert health care reform to match their own interests.  They have (literally) billions of reasons to do so. Corporate health care has not led to good results.  The privatized American system is far and away the most expensive health care system in  the world.  Despite this, tens of millions of Americans have no health care insurance and tens of millions more have inadequate health care insurance. Already, we are beginning to see a similar trend (on a smaller scale)  in the long term care, health care infrastructure, and home care s