MillieF

How very true (yes I'm still having problems with my karma button, or I'd push it)

Gozit

This... And more state funded education (college, etc) so people can get education to potentially lessen their dependency on social assistance.

scrubbedexpat091

Cant say anything about EI but in BC if employable the ministry makes your life pretty hellish the entire time your on social assistance and they have many hoops one must partake in to remain eligible. If they think your not doing a sufficient job in your job search they will cut one off.

BC basically has 3 types of social assistance:

General assistance which is what an employable person is on as well as anyone applying for and waiting on a decision for disability.

Then there is also persons with multiple barriers to employment which is general assistance rate plus like an extra 50 dollars. These folks usually have medical issues or other barriers to employment but not severe enough to be deemed disabled.

Then 3rd is persons with disability. This one is difficult to get, requires a doctor to fill out a package of various medical questions and history and once completed the ministry doctors review it and any relevant medical records and make the final decision.

PWD can take well over a year to getba decision on.

PWD folks have no employment requirement but are permitted to work if they desire but there is a limit on how much earnings one can have before assistance is clawed back.

The process in BC is very thorough and include such things as a credit check to see if one has access to credit, a motor vehicle record search, property title search, verification of any bank accounts and their value and so on.

There will always be those who find ways to fraud the system, but from what I gather welfare fraud isnt all that high.

Not many want to choose a life of poverty and the rates are not exactly high.

235 for general cost of living like food, transportation, clothing etc.

375 max for housing.

This is the single rate no kids. A single parent would get a bit more at 307 for living and max of 570 for housing.

macadian

Ditto. Might have something to do with my perception that Canada is now liberal (and politically correct) to the point of absurdity.

scrubbedexpat091

Retraining programs would go a long way in helping people gain more employable skills. Right now social assistance recipients have very few options.

Single parents have more options, but other folks are limited.

Most retraining programs seem to require one to be on EI or have been on EI and many on social assistance do not qualify for EI.

Shard

Cultural difference I would say. Canada simply is not as leftward leaning as Britain. Greater emphasis on self sufficiency, and greater social mobility generally. Britain has had many more centuries to consider how to help the disadvantaged. There's also probably a good amount of American social thinking that slips into Canadian consciousness (just as Continental European thinking influences Britain).

Good observation on 'tax pounds' although, who knows what's to come. So much cross fertilisation of lingo these days.

JS: people who comment like that are complete thickos. No point to even try to make sense of what they are saying, they have limited experience and/or knowledge of society beyond their own comfortable circumstances, and as Aviator pointed out, they would be the first and loudest ones in the dole queue if their luck reversed. Don't let your blood boil, just ignore them.

BristolUK

Sure...but to have medicare and be proud of it but not see the wisdom of extending it - even if it was just to post hospital treatment - is what I find a puzzle.

The newspaper here runs occasional articles about "bed blockers" and how they are ready for nursing homes but there aren't places available unless they are of independent means and can pay, so they stay in hospital waiting for one of the subsidised places to become available.

Aside from the knock on effect it has on other patients and people who can't be patients because the resources are used up by bed blocking, the articles point out that the cost of keeping the patient in hospital is greater than the cost of paying for the available nursing home places that are a bit more than the rates they normally pay.

It's madness I tells ya.

And where's the outcry?

Gozit

Oh I agree on the health care part. Any and all health care should be fully funded IMO. I am baffled as to why my eyeglasses or dental cleaning isn't covered when it is back home. There shouldn't be fees for using an ambulance or prescriptions.

And people in the UK seem to be OK with paying taxes for social assistance until someone who isn't British tries to claim it (now, this isn't all Brits but these are the people who are making noise on the news and trying to leave the bloody EU because of it, idiots...)

Oink

Why would you label them idiots because they don't share your opinion? I think you might want to take a few classes in critical reasoning and debating before you go to university.

scrubbedexpat091

Issue with healthcare in Canada seems to be everyone wants more but nobody wants to pay for it. Either with higher taxes or through co payments at time of service.


There is also a lot of waste with people going for every minor thing. I think part of this is because people have no real experience with actual cost of seeing the doctor. They just go.

Not talking huge amounts maybe $10 for GP, $20 for a specialst, 50 or 75 for the ER.

Healthcare just eats so much of provincial budgets not sure services can increased and keep current taxation rates.


Remember some of these provinces have a total population of a US city but way more ground to cover and seems far less funding at the federal level for things like highways and transit.

Not sure what the solution is but I cant see how the current system can be sustainable into the long term future as it stands now.

So many places in Canada where one cannot even get a GP for their basic healthcare needs and the GP issue doesnt seem to be getting better despite govt saying they are doing this or that and spedning this much.

But maybe the govt doesnt actually want more as more docs means more money spent.


We are currently driving 160km or so rouhly one way to see our GP in Squam as walk in clinics here havent been so great and not suited to handle chronic stuff well whede easy access to records and personal knowledge of the patient is needed.

Most of the WIC seem to have a different doc every day so hard to even see the same doc each time.

caretaker

I just took a look through the Chilliwack Mental Health website and could almost see you shaking your head, nothing seems to fit. Hopefully you'll find doctors soon and things will get a bit better ordered.

Aviator

Try these guys. I had to go to a walk in a few weeks ago as it was a Sunday, and I was surprisingly impressed.
horizonaccess

Equally, I tried out Vivacare on Yale Road and was decidedly unimpressed.

Partially discharged

When you find that tree that all the money falls from without any increased costs to taxpayers or increased taxes please let us all know.

We pay high costs for health care currently and as per Jsmith's comments there is a lot of wastage as many people go for the slightest cough.

It would be much better if money was spent on healthy living programs rather than expensive treatments as a result of unhealthy living.

scrubbedexpat091

My wife ended up going there. Horizon and she was impressed. Viva not so much.

scrubbedexpat091

I pretty much gave up on the public mental health system. They just dont have the funding to deal with issues like borderline.

Ive found an online program run by a well known person in the US that offers dbt courses for 97 US per month so gonna try that.