6 - Sunday, June 17, 1990 - North Shore News © hither and yon © ICBC has answer to doc’s fee problems IN THE B.C. doctor’s fee dispute with Victoria there are no bad guys on either side. So the best approach to solving it is to take a new look at patients. First, however, the facts and a litte basic logic. This year’s total health care bill — doctors, hospitals, nurses and related services — will be $4.8 billion, nearly one-third of the total B.C. budget. No wonder Health Minister John Jansen gets a bit edgy when talking money. The MSP budget — the portion of that $4.8 billion which pays doctors’ fees — will rise a slim 2.5 per cent to $1.17 billion. Even so, there’s no question that most doc- tors have become underpaid for their skills and time since 1985, due to inflation and B.C.’s brisk population growth. Typical is one well established West Van family G.P. with 20 years experience and some 1,800 patients. After paying $87,000 in ex- penses (reni, salaries, supplies, etc.) and nearly $23,000 in income tax, he took home less than $47,000 last year. For an average 65 hours a week that comes to $15 an hour — out of which he still had to provide for his own medical, sick leave and pension needs. He reckons he has to see 17 pa- .tients today for the same take- home pay he earned five years ago by seeing nine. And exhausting 65 to 70-hour weeks are hardly in the best interests of either doctor or patients. An obvious diagnosis is that pa- tients are paying too little. And the only cures are politically dan- gerous: higher MSP premiums or extra billing. However, those insured under the MSP differ widely in their use of doctors. There are the healthy ones who see their G.P. only in rare cases of real need. There are others who rush to doc for con- solation at the first twinge of a headache or sore throat that could be readily treated at the drugstore. Surely a lesson is to be learned here from ICBC auto insurance. Why not iron out medicare peaks and valleys with a modified no- claim bonus system? Set the basic MSP premium HIGHER than needed to provide doctors with a fair hourly income. This top figure would apply to single visits for unrelated minor complaints needing no follow-up. Like head colds, hangovers, ear wax or simply a craving to use the waiting room as a community drop-in centre. At the other end of the scale those with no visits at all in 12 montas would get a whopping deduction from their premium for allowing doc time to deal with his most profitable patients. In between the two extremes the big majority of bona fide cases — those with emergencies or condi- tions needing extended treatment over a number of visits — would receive a discount reducing their basic MSP premiums to the level doctors actually need. Thus, no extra billing. No overall increase in premiums AC- TUALLY PAID. And doc able to keep the wolf from the door without working twice as many hours as a car mechanic! ean YAILPIECES: Ducks are bigger bucks than ever this year. As a result of its Great Capilano River Duck Race in February, North Van Rotary has already donated $7,000 to Amity Canada for the mentally handicapped, $5,500 to the ‘Y’, $5,000 apiece to Neigh- bourhood House and Emily Mur- phy House and $3,000 to St. John Ambulance. And it still had $45,000 to distribute tu other charities ... North Vaa Folkfest 90 kicks off this Thursday, June 21, with a wide-ranging Arts and Crafts Fair at the Civic Centre, 14th and Lonsdale, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily through June 30. Watch Wednesday for details of next weekend's Folkfest shows at the Centennial Theatre ... And if you have a long forgotten cowboy hat and boots somewhere in the basement, maybe you qualify for the 20th birthday bash of Cariboo College in Kamloops, which stages its Homecoming Weekend Aug. 24-26 with barbecue, dance, music, entertainers and lots of other cattle-country fun — call Artee, 5-800-663-2955, to tell them you're coming. eae WRIGHT OR WRONG: A father is a banker provided by nature, goes the old French proverb. Happy banker’s day to all Dads! el Photo submitted “MADAM North Shore Pageant’ Gertie Todd and husband Chartie celebrate their recent Golden An- niversary. HEY!...LOOKIT WHAT, FELL OUT OF THIS GUYS POCKET... Md Milt: G Father | knows , best fathers have yet to cash in. The family enforcer, the tradi- tional breadwinner, the 9-to-5 foot soldier is taking it from both sides these days. His mission in life has become blur- red; his position in the family scheme of things is becoming more complex; but he remains largely on the outside look- ‘ing in. Years of social revolution have left him with more family responsibilities but fewer guidelines, And while fathers have made some progress in adjusting to their new role, they continue to be portrayed in film and television as callous brutes or q F IT is incéeed still a man’s world, Father’s breadwinner role has, in many cases, been usurped and shared by mother; his role as nurturing parent has been expanded. But he stands in the eye of a social hurricane clinging to the liferaft of dim images of fathers past with few strong role models visible on the horizon. Only a father knows what another fa- ther faces, but fathers don’t traditional- ly communicate with each other much about their work as fathers. Whatever its current state, fatherhood remains integral to the overall success of families and society. So on this Father’s Day, instead of a tie or pair of socks, give your dad something special: tell him he’s doing a funk-headed simpletons. “Fortunately John McKeachie sat down and he really taught me a lesson on how to talk for five minutes and not say anything....’’ BCTV’s Pamela Martin, on be- ing saved on-air by sportscaster Jchn McKeachie after a _five- minute television news package failed to materialize. “I am horrified that senior citi- zeus are considered undesirables in this community — with the same distaste as anyone coming out of jail.” Britis: Properties area resident Doroth,; Metcalfe, speaking out against opposition to a senior citi- zens development near the site of the West Vancouver Baptist Church. “This came from the heart, it wasn’t a politica) sell....We also bad quite a number of new Cana- Publisher Associate Editor re. Second Class Mail Registration umber 3885. Subscriptions tiorth and West Jancouver, $25 per year Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept tesponsibility for Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director . Linda Stewart North Shore Haws, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban ni naper and qualified under Schedule 118, Paragraph ttl ot the Excise Tax Act. is published each Wednesday, Fr:day and Sunday by North Store Free Press Ltd. and distributed tc every door on the North good job as a father. dians, who perhaps have a better appreciation of what a good country is.’’ West Vancouver Citizens For A United Canada (WVCUC) chair- man Dave Harper, on the unity petition organized by the group. “It’s a nonsensical plan.”’ North Vancouver District Ald. Ernie Crist, on the district’s Of- ficial Community Plan, “Please give our park to those who wilt follow us, so nobody can take it away from them.”’ North Vancouver District resi- dent Wilf Wedding, calling on council to preserve, once and for all, Lynn Canyon Park. “If 1 were in charge of the district hall, you can rest assured the pro- vince would have never tried those tricks in the first place, because THE VOICE OF NORTE ANO WEST VANCOUVER SUNDAY + WEONESDAY » FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, 8.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures 8 which should be accompanied by a stamped, addres: envelope. sed SDA DIVISION Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Fax I'm not in their pockets. I’m not God’s gift to the North Shore, but if i¢ wasn’t for me the public would not be aware of these things."* North Vancouver District Ald. Ernie Crist, charging that the deal te lease municipal land for the Cove Cliff School playing field is a Socred ‘‘sweetheart deal.’’ “That's tommyrot.”’ North Vancouver District Mayor Marilyn Baker, rezponding to Crist’s accusation of a sweet- heart deal. “‘Narada has sought to create music that contributes a heartfelt esthetic perspective to society's new commerce of ideas.’ New Age music, as forwarded by the Narada record company, currently one of the leading purveyors of New Age sounds. 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-3337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER sx G North Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.