6 — Sunday, April 18, 1999 — North Shore News Premier problet HE most telling quote regard- ing Glen Clark’s fading for- tunes came not from a politi- cian but a lawyer. In denouncing media coverage of the RCMP’s search of the premier’s East Vancouver home, David Gibbons was outraged that the media published Clark’s address. So it has come to this. The elected leader of our province is concerned that citizens of British Columbia — the people who funded his forays into ferry building, treaty signing and for- est renewal — know where he and his family live.” What’s he afraid of: accountability? This speaks volumes about our government’s dismal state of affairs. No question the premier and his family have a right to privacy, but a grand Canadian tradition has been north shore news VIEWPOINT that our leaders make no secret that they live, work and play among us. The real issue here is that the RCMP searched the leader of our province’s house for evidence of impropriety. The premier’s lawyer, who is being paid by taxpayers, can try all the smoke-and-mirror tricks he wants, but the fact remains that our premier has some major questions to answer. When — not if — Clark resigns in disgrace he will be the third consecu- tive B.C. premier to step down before his term is out. It’s said we get the government we deserve, and if that’s the case we've obviously done something terribly wrong. We have. We've let our leaders get away with evasive and dishonest behaviour for far too long. a WE SERGS PROUDLY BS show OUR DEFIANCE WERE, IN YuGOSraAvid, EAR THIS BADGE To OF NATO'S AIR STRIKES You Saicl it “Visiting, parents is one of those joys and rights and privileges that people have when they are law abiding citizens, not when they are supposed to be locked up for three years.” North Vancouver MP Ted White, questioning the rea- soning that allowed convicted drug dealer David Darmadi out of jail to visit his parents less than three months into a 3% year jail sentence. (From an April 16 News story.) Q0g “,.. they were not the Hells Angels cither. They were the real ones.” Bowen Island resident Robin Smith, on his brash with angels after a pay phone on Bay Street near the ferry termi- nal in Horseshoc Bay blew up minutes after he used it. (From an April 14 News story.) Q00 “We will move an existing bouleneck a few feet for $6 million. The road we have to pursue is public tran- sit. North Vancouver District Coun. Ernie Crist, promising to lobby against funding a new Dollarton Bridge. (From an Apri! 14 News story.) 200 “If you get lost hug a tree.” North Shore Rescue’s Tim Jones, advising lost skiers to stay put. (From an April 14 News story.) 900 . “We're becoming the Bangladesh of North America. We can’t afford a sweetheart deal in this climate and the golfers themselves know that.” North Vancouver District Coun. Trevor Carolan, on a Proposal to forgive a portion of the Northlands golf course lebr. . oa00a “We don’t allow staff to make the solid decisions. It (green fees) becomes a political football every year. We love to diddle around. Right now everybody is appeal- ing to the golfing community for their votes in November.” . North Vancouver District Coun. Janice Harris, on coun- cil’s insistence on approving the green feces at Northlands every year. (From the same April Il News story.) north shore, ~-- OH, AND WE HAVE A BAPGat FoR ALBANIANS Only one cure for ailing medicare AS a winter of overflowing hos- pitals, eight-hour waits in Emergency, closed doctors’ offices and ever longer surgical line-ups proves, medicare itself is now in intensive care. Nor is there any hope ofa cure merely by throwing ever more bil- lions at it. That's because medicare is presently run as a state monopoly, like those that ultimately ruined the Soviet Union. The trouble with state monopolies, taxpayer-funded and government-managed, is that nobody has the slightest incentive to control costs. Certainly not the state, as long as it has unlimited taxing powers. Nor the con- sumers — promised (as one of the five sacrosanct Canada Health Act principles) “comprehensive” medicare. If you’re REALLY lonely, this theoretically means you can visit your doctor five times week- ly with a never-ending succession of minor or imaginary aches and pains. Oddly enough, most Canadians at the same time also associate medicare with insurance — which, by definition, exists (usually with a deductible) to protect against crushing financial costs arising from unforeseen events and disasters. But medicare pays, with no questions asked, for aimost everything from a headache and a routine check-up to costly tests and major surgery. Winnipeg medical cclumnist David Gratzer compares the situation to auto insurance. How high a premium would you pay, he asks, if you could claim for repaint jobs on your car, new windshield wipers and gas? Medicare’s basic problem has never been better explained. So if bureaucrats and their political masters can’t control costs, the only hope lies with medicare consumers themselves. One answer could be medical sav- ings accounts (MSAs), now the subject of numerous public and private-sector experi- ments in the U.S., as well as in China and Singapore. The beauty of MSAs is that they encourage you to take a lively interest in controlling your medical budget, while still covering you for fundamentals and protecting you from devastating medical costs. Models of the scheme vary in their detail, but the basic concept goes like this. Each year government puts money - into your MSA to cover basic medical needs, including X-rays and checkups, the amount varying according to your age, general health and demographics. If you overspend it, you pay out of your own pocket up to a certain threshold — above which mandatory insurance kicks in to protect you from catastrophic bills for major surgery and lengthy hospitaliza- tion. A specimen case suggested by the Toronto-based Consumer Policy Institute , Noel Wright hither and yon shows how it would work in the case of a 30-year-old male. He would get an annu- al savings account credit of $416, If he exhausted that before the year-end, he would pay up to the next $104 out of his own pocket. Then, at the $520 threshold, medicare would take over for all further costs, If he spent LESS than his initial $416, half the balance would be returned to government, the other half credited to his account for the following year. In some MSA schemes accrued credits might even be made cligible for investment in an RRSP, Proponents of the MSA concept esti- mate it would cur down on many unnec- essary doctor’s office visits, as well as reducing fraud and abuse of medicare. So maybe there’s a positive lesson to be Jearned after all from this year’s peri- adic strike action (a.k.a. “Restricte Access Days”) by B.C. doctors — which, in effect, is a kind of reverse cost contro! with inconvenience to everyone. Looked at from that angle, it underscores the urgent need for direct cost control of the system exercised by individual users with inconvenience to nobody. Regulating personal demands on medicare is the only treatment that can cure thar stricken patient! . 900 MANY HAPPY RETURNS of tormor-. | row, April 19, to West Van Kiwanis birth- day trio, Alex Brokenshire, Gerry McDowell and Frank Wilson. O00 WRIGHT OR.WRONG: Love creates an “us” without destroying a “me.” LETTERS TO THE ESiTOR Letters must include youi name, tull address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: tenshaw @ direct.ca North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an. iadependent suburban newspaper and qualified i under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of tha Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, y Friday and Sunday oy North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distriouted ta avery door on the North ‘Shore Canada Post Canadian Publications Mai ‘Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. ‘Mailing rates available on request. ETER SPECK posthoc S8S-2131 (116) Barbara Emo donathan Bail Distribution Manager Creative Services Managet 986-1337 (124) 985-2131 (127) 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Suxday) Michee! Becker - News Editor 985-2131 (114) 7 he Andrew McCredie - Saosts/Commenity Editar 985-2138 (147) : serie Stephenson "Trtzh Agrlos Photography Manager Classified Manager Promotions Manager 865-2131 (160) 906-6222 (202) 885-2131 (216) Entire contents © 1995 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Terry Peters 985-2181 (105) intermet- htip://wene.nsnews.com