Editor:
One in three Canadians will require long-term care. Long-term care is not only about grandpa. It’s about you, your spouse, your siblings, your children. Any one of us can develop a debilitating disease or illness that leaves us in need of long-term care.
VCH has determined that long-term care beds are not cost-effective, and those sleeping in them are too costly to care for. Decisions have been made that will affect us all as the elderly, infirm and dying become a commodity.
Is it a comment on our society or on our government that public input and debates over commercial projects and developments can carry on for years, yet a decision to drop-kick some of the most powerless among us out of public health care has been made behind closed doors? No studies, no facts or information, no public consultation or debate.
Who is next? Who is worthy? Who is least productive? Who can we no longer squeeze tax dollars out of? Who is least likely to vote?
The public has been given no information about the real cost of privatization. There will be no decrease in our taxes or health care costs. Any member of the community needing long-term care will pay more for basic equipment and services necessary for quality of life.
R.E. McGinnis, Gibsons
