Since I picked up an inner-ear infection a week ago, I've been thinking about the healthcare system. It took me 30 minutes and ultimately cost me $11 to receive the diagnosis and get the antibiotics required to clear it up. All thanks to the Canadian single-payer healthcare system.
Tommy Douglas said it best: "Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world." Douglas knew first-hand about the struggle to being universal healthcare to the people. Thanks to Douglas' work in Saskatchewan as politician and later Premier, all Canadians now have access to what I personally consider the best health care system in the world.
Is it perfect? Nothing man-made is. In many of our major cities, and even in smaller places there are extensive lines in Emergency Rooms and too few hospital beds. Waiting lists for non-critical procedures can be extensive as well. In some cases people look for a private for-profit solution, paid for out of their own pocket rather than wait. I myself did that several years ago after my car accident--I elected to have a private MRI done to examine the damage to my back an neck when I wasn't satisfied with the initial diagnosis. But more and more my experience with the Canadian system is one of quiet competence, and better yet, affordability. On the occasion we need to see a doctor, my daughter and I go the neighborhood clinic. The wait time is rarely long, even when the waiting room is full, and I am more than pleased with the standard of care we have received. I'm a big proponent of these sorts of walk-in clinics, and believe they are key to solving the issues with ER wait times and reduce the load on the system so long as people who are in moderate medical need go to the clinic as opposed to the ER.
Bed shortages and procedure wait-times are a separate issue, and one that requires more than simply changing personal habits. We need to find a way to increase the money going to the healthcare system without breaking the bank or de-listing services. It might be easy to simply say 'raise taxes' but I think that we need to look at things more creatively. We've been able to reduce drug costs simply by using the government's weight to negotiate better rates from drug companies--without needing to raise premiums. It's time for Canadians, and most especially, their politicians to think outside the box to solve this problem. Canadians need a system that will survive for they and their children, and ideological fist-fights over what to do mixed with political posturing and short-sightedness are a toxic mix. Lets be practical people.
Americans need a system too--and one that is fundamentally more equitable than their current one. The fight south of the border over universal healthcare is heating up, and opponents are all the usual suspects. Sadly many American politicians who should be on the side of universal healthcare are either dragging their feet or actively sabotaging it. With a single payer plan like Canada, the US would find itself far more competitive economically when it comes to worker's benefits. Part of GMs problems are based on having to bear legacy health costs negotiated in their contracts with the unions. Now while many would simply say turf the unions a more practical view has to be taken regarding worker health--for without healthy skilled workers, what sort of quality are you producing? Who want's to buy poor quality goods--and who could afford to if forced into low income realities due to poor wages, or outrageous healthcare bills.
Single payer universal healthcare makes sense economically and socially. I urge the Americans to continue to look at the Canadian example--the Tommy Douglas example--in their fight for their own system. You will be inundated with stories of where the system has failed Canadians--and sad or frustrating as they are, and as much as they do need to be dealt with, don't for a moment think that these examples are any more than exceptions that prove the rule. 30+ million Canadians use our system, and by and large they are as satisfied with it as I am.
There is still work to be done here--practical work. The struggle never ends, but with a bit of that courage we can build a better world.
Sean
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
A Very IT Short Story I Had Floating Around...
(BEEP)
by S.D. Campbell
BEL was a character.
He was—like everyone else he knew, a low brow character. That wasn’t usually a problem. He’d grown up with most of them—his closest friends were ACK and BS—but he was well acquainted with FS, GS, RS and US from the Board (he worked with them).
Then his life changed.
She made an appearance.
And nothing was ever the same again.
Her curves were stunning. Shapely. Beautiful. To BEL she looked like a radiant angel.
But she was one of the high placed numbers, and no Low or High ever mixed. After all, how often had a Low been used to terminate a block?
Yet here she was, on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak. He maneuvered past the others who were staring and smiled at her.
“Hi.” He said stupidly.
Her look contained distain—and a little fear.
“Perhaps you can help me.” She said, “I seem to be lost.”
“What’cha looking for?”
“The port.”
BEL smiled, “I can show you.”
“Uh…” she sneered at the little character, “Thank you, but…”
“Please. I’ll be good, I won’t beep I swear.”
She sighed, “Fine. We go now.”
He nodded exuberantly, and led them though the still silent throng.
“So what’s your number?” he asked, trying to make conversation.
She rolled her eyes, it was a classic Low pickup line. “One-two-five.” She said, “As if you couldn’t tell.”
He tittered, “Heh, I guess I just need to look…”
She snorted, “Like any intelligent character. I, for instance, knew the moment I saw you you were zero-zero-seven.”
He drew himself up to his full height—which wasn’t much. “I like to think of myself as just plain double-oh-seven thank you very much” he glanced about furtively, “On a daring mission to assist a beautiful…”
“Brace?” a husky voice called out.
BEL turned to see another High approach them. He too had curves, but his were thicker, and bulged in places. BEL wondered if this brute was using a different font.
“Oh Lefty!” she fell into his embrace, “I got separated, and found myself down here, and this…”
BEL smiled nervously.
“Thing attempted to assist me.”
BEL beamed.
The Left Curved Brace glared. He glanced to his superior, “What should I do to it?”
The Right Brace who BEL had attempted to assist shrugged and looked at her ends, “Whatever…” she sighed.
BEL began to tremble.
“After all he tried to hit on me.”
(BEEP)
Both Braces looked at him.
“Did you…” Lefty said.
“Just Beep?” Brace asked.
“I didn’t mean to…” Bel whimpered, beeping again in terror. “Please don’t delete me.”
Brace was blasé “Demote him Lefty.”
At least they’d left him part of his name NUL thought as he moped about zeroing out variables and flagging them for garbage collection.
As bad as it was to have been demoted to (null) and have his number set to zero-zero-zero, at least he hadn’t been deleted. So it could be worse.
What really hurt though was what she said to him as the two Braces left.
“It never would have worked out anyway honey.” She said with silky elegance, “Our children would have been Capitals.”
by S.D. Campbell
BEL was a character.
He was—like everyone else he knew, a low brow character. That wasn’t usually a problem. He’d grown up with most of them—his closest friends were ACK and BS—but he was well acquainted with FS, GS, RS and US from the Board (he worked with them).
Then his life changed.
She made an appearance.
And nothing was ever the same again.
Her curves were stunning. Shapely. Beautiful. To BEL she looked like a radiant angel.
But she was one of the high placed numbers, and no Low or High ever mixed. After all, how often had a Low been used to terminate a block?
Yet here she was, on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak. He maneuvered past the others who were staring and smiled at her.
“Hi.” He said stupidly.
Her look contained distain—and a little fear.
“Perhaps you can help me.” She said, “I seem to be lost.”
“What’cha looking for?”
“The port.”
BEL smiled, “I can show you.”
“Uh…” she sneered at the little character, “Thank you, but…”
“Please. I’ll be good, I won’t beep I swear.”
She sighed, “Fine. We go now.”
He nodded exuberantly, and led them though the still silent throng.
“So what’s your number?” he asked, trying to make conversation.
She rolled her eyes, it was a classic Low pickup line. “One-two-five.” She said, “As if you couldn’t tell.”
He tittered, “Heh, I guess I just need to look…”
She snorted, “Like any intelligent character. I, for instance, knew the moment I saw you you were zero-zero-seven.”
He drew himself up to his full height—which wasn’t much. “I like to think of myself as just plain double-oh-seven thank you very much” he glanced about furtively, “On a daring mission to assist a beautiful…”
“Brace?” a husky voice called out.
BEL turned to see another High approach them. He too had curves, but his were thicker, and bulged in places. BEL wondered if this brute was using a different font.
“Oh Lefty!” she fell into his embrace, “I got separated, and found myself down here, and this…”
BEL smiled nervously.
“Thing attempted to assist me.”
BEL beamed.
The Left Curved Brace glared. He glanced to his superior, “What should I do to it?”
The Right Brace who BEL had attempted to assist shrugged and looked at her ends, “Whatever…” she sighed.
BEL began to tremble.
“After all he tried to hit on me.”
(BEEP)
Both Braces looked at him.
“Did you…” Lefty said.
“Just Beep?” Brace asked.
“I didn’t mean to…” Bel whimpered, beeping again in terror. “Please don’t delete me.”
Brace was blasé “Demote him Lefty.”
At least they’d left him part of his name NUL thought as he moped about zeroing out variables and flagging them for garbage collection.
As bad as it was to have been demoted to (null) and have his number set to zero-zero-zero, at least he hadn’t been deleted. So it could be worse.
What really hurt though was what she said to him as the two Braces left.
“It never would have worked out anyway honey.” She said with silky elegance, “Our children would have been Capitals.”
Friday, May 29, 2009
Of #twitterfail and Other Internet Realities
The Internet and the Web are vast and rich spaces. The advent of social networking may seem to have revolutionized how we interact with these spaces, but in truth it has only really added just one more place in which information transfer can occur. The information available through the 'net is amazing in its scope, breadth and depth. I'm sure if you looked long enough (say 10 minutes) you'd pull up an old post I made to the space1999 mailing list in praise of Alan Carter's propensity for crashing Eagles--posted sometime when I was in University over a decade and a half ago.
Today those of us plugged in tweet and blog and update our Facebook status--and often fail to remember just how long what we say will hang around and how it might impact our lives and/or careers ten years later.
Yet, that said, quite often there seems to be this strange memory pot-hole in the 'Information Super-Highway' (what an old term!). Often what we cherish most in terms of posts or articles or positions seem to fade from the Internet and Web over time--sometimes in the most inopportune moment! I think this is for two reasons. First, each of us is generally a small fish in an immense ocean, and unless you're a public figure, what you say or do is at the mercy of the vagaries of hosting and archiving. Which comes to the second reason: the vagaries of hosting and archiving. Data storage isn't free, and with that in mind it's not surprising some of the short fiction I had published with small press e-zines a decade ago is no longer accessible now that said e-zines are long out of business.
Recently Twitter has been making noise about how to generate a revenue stream without moving to on-line advertising. I understand this need--I work for an Internet company, and revenue is the lifeblood of any business. Without some steady income Twitter will eventually just go away.
But there's a fine line to be walked here. Twitter's value isn't really in the service it provides, but in the reach it has to it's millions of subscribers. Charge for the standard on-line service and the subscribers begin to vanish. This is what many newspapers have discovered when they put their content behind a pay-wall when they moved online (and sadly, some are now attempting to relearn that lesson again--likely with the same results). People might pay for premium Twitter service--but no one will pay for what we get to do now for free.
So, if no subscription fee, and no advertising, what is Twitter to do?
I say, just imagine the market and trend-research and analysis potential in mining billions of tweets from millions of users. Monetize that is what I say. Otherwise I think the end result of old revenue thinking on Twitter's part is one giant fail whale.
Sean
Today those of us plugged in tweet and blog and update our Facebook status--and often fail to remember just how long what we say will hang around and how it might impact our lives and/or careers ten years later.
Yet, that said, quite often there seems to be this strange memory pot-hole in the 'Information Super-Highway' (what an old term!). Often what we cherish most in terms of posts or articles or positions seem to fade from the Internet and Web over time--sometimes in the most inopportune moment! I think this is for two reasons. First, each of us is generally a small fish in an immense ocean, and unless you're a public figure, what you say or do is at the mercy of the vagaries of hosting and archiving. Which comes to the second reason: the vagaries of hosting and archiving. Data storage isn't free, and with that in mind it's not surprising some of the short fiction I had published with small press e-zines a decade ago is no longer accessible now that said e-zines are long out of business.
Recently Twitter has been making noise about how to generate a revenue stream without moving to on-line advertising. I understand this need--I work for an Internet company, and revenue is the lifeblood of any business. Without some steady income Twitter will eventually just go away.
But there's a fine line to be walked here. Twitter's value isn't really in the service it provides, but in the reach it has to it's millions of subscribers. Charge for the standard on-line service and the subscribers begin to vanish. This is what many newspapers have discovered when they put their content behind a pay-wall when they moved online (and sadly, some are now attempting to relearn that lesson again--likely with the same results). People might pay for premium Twitter service--but no one will pay for what we get to do now for free.
So, if no subscription fee, and no advertising, what is Twitter to do?
I say, just imagine the market and trend-research and analysis potential in mining billions of tweets from millions of users. Monetize that is what I say. Otherwise I think the end result of old revenue thinking on Twitter's part is one giant fail whale.
Sean
Friday, May 22, 2009
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