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Do you think it is a nail in the coffin of Healthcare in Canada? I would advocate that any of you who hold dear a system that deals with all people under equanimity to reconsider their memberships if they go ahead with this insurance plan.

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Originally posted by admin:
For Consumers in British Columbia.

BCAA Supporting "For Profit" Healthcare?

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If you won't come there, I'll have to bring it here.

For CAA Consumers in Canada?

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BCAA Members: Your Feedback Counts

Dear Consumer,

As you may have read or heard in the news, BCAA is offering to its members on a trial basis a new type of insurance called Medical Access Insurance. This type of insurance is intended to provide faster access to health care services within Canada or the U.S. in the event that the public health care system in B.C. is not able to provide those services in a timely manner.

BCAA is offering this insurance product - developed and administered by Acure Health Corp - because many of our members said they saw a need for it and supported BCAA in offering it. In a recent telephone survey of 800 members, 74% expressed support for BCAA offering this type of product.

Since starting the trial offer in August, BCAA has heard from a small number of members expressing a range of opinions about medical access insurance - everything from those interested in purchasing it to those strongly opposed to it. What do you think? Member response is extremely important to us in assessing this product, which is why it is being offered on a trial basis.

Please share your thoughts with us about Medical Access Insurance and be part of our decision making process. Take the BCAA Medical Access Insurance Survey here.

Thank you!

Bill Bullis
President & CEO

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Now if it can happen to Jack Layton(debate misinformation perpetrated), why not "choose" to let it happen to you?

You see, having the insurance available is not the only thing to think about here. Under Workman's Compensation, how many times has these "for profit clinics" been used to get workers back to work faster? Workers.......unite.

The issue here is to "speed up treatment for others" and not admit "a two tier system" to clear backlogs.

Can I fault my buddy even though I explain to him what he is doing, and then again, I wonder. It could be a year if he did not take this way. He needs and wants to work, so he pays. The cost had been calculated on that year, versus, what he may have made in two months.

He is obviously not the only one that made this calculation.

Again it is about getting more doctors into the system, making available hospital beds, and clearing up the wait times. There would be no reason to look for a way to implement "for profit clinics," to help clear up the backlog, had our provincial and federal governments sought to deal with healthcare in this way.

Best,

[ 08 October 2008: Message edited by: admin ]

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"After it became an issue in the media, we heard loud and clear from a significant number of our members that they were strongly opposed to us offering this type of an insurance product," said BCAA's Trace Acres.

"Almost two-thirds of our members supported us in offering this type of insurance. But what was happening on the other side was that people who were opposed were very opposed to the point of saying that if we were to continue they would consider cancelling their membership.

"We decided that it was not in the best interest of the association or our membership at large to continue offering the product."

NDP health critic Adrian Dix said BCAA made the right decision to drop the insurance, which was offered by Calgary-based Acure Health Corp.

Dix said the Medical Services Commission has found that the insurance violates the Medicare Protection Act.

BCAA president and CEO Bill Bullis said the company offered the insurance as a "possible solution to the medical waiting list problem that exists in B.C. We have since learned that a significant number also strongly disagree with this approach."

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Dix said the Medical Services Commission has found that the insurance violates the Medicare Protection Act. BCAA cancels controversial private-clinic medical plan by Jack Keating.

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What other insurances carriers that we know of are doing the same thing?

I mentioned Workman's Compensation "as a question," and one which I am sure workers of this country would "not" like to see on their minds as they see themselves move ahead of others who have been waiting.

I am assuming that Workman's Compensation "may" or "may not do the same thing." How would we know for certain whether they may also be breaking the law??

Best,

[ 09 October 2008: Message edited by: admin ]