"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Thursday 13 November 2014

Figures To Boggle the Mind

We had a long comment the other day on the issue of smoking in public spaces. It ended  with an
opinion  that people seriously ill from smoking should be required to pay for  their own medical and hospital care.

My first thought was ....that should send a shiver up the spines of those making a lucrative living out of  the health industry. 

The next was ....how government pays the cost of medical and hospital care. Information  is at our fingertips. It can be shared. 

Tax revenue  from Ontario Liquor Control Board amounted to $1.4 billion in 2013.

The figure does not include  8% share of the Harmonized Sales Tax . Nor 10% tax collected from restaurants and bars.

Tobacco sales  produced $1,146.billion  The funds  all go to finance  health services.

A cool $1.8 billion from Ontario Lottery and Gaming  also went to support hospitals and other Ontario priorities.

It's entirely likely ne'er -do -wells who smoke and drink  and don't deserve to receive medical and hospital care without paying for it, are the same who purchase lottery tickets and visit casinos.

They may   be paying for their  own medical and hospital care care and  everyone else's as well.

It would be difficult to prove without knowing the costs of  hospital and medical care.

But we have a sense of that as well.  What with the various  recent scandals connected with the industry.

In a recent year, a list of  compensation for Ontario Hospital Presidents was forwarded in my direction.  In Newmarket, the salary was $450,000. Expenses charged were in excess of $200,000.
By the time he retired his salary was $471,000 and expense allowance $37,000.

It would certainly be sufficient to cover the cost of  more than a few muffins and coffees at the airport.

But who's counting?

Oh yes....millions  are collected in annual fund-raisers in the name  of family member victims of  the various terrible diseases that still kill.

Who  respects these volunteers with a regular update on  the difference their  heart- felt efforts have
made?

Who thinks of family members, when property purchaesd with public funds is leased to the private sector to make a killing  when a seriously ill family member is occupying a hospital bed ?


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read that comment & cringed. A brief flash of a bunch of people wearing labels was unavoidable. Later it occurred to me that the goof who wrote it might have wanted to take-it-back but the damage was done.

Anonymous said...

All the costs of hospitalization make sense., I suppose, to those who deal with the bigger picture.
Except for the bloody parking fees.

Anonymous said...

The defeated mayor of Brampton is apparently entitled to a departing severance of $375,000.

These big salaries and severances only come from one source - the taxpayers.

What on earth could the CEO of Southlake do with $275,000 in expenses? Could this be an error?

Anonymous said...

17:19
If you read the small print, the Brampton mayor owes money.

Anonymous said...

Golf course is up for sale. I'm going to go have a walk on the property with a cigarette in hand.