Thoughts on Healthcare and Fitness

Years back, Saanich had a great ball hockey program run out of the Field House at Pearkes. Originally, this program was coordinated by a dedicated fellow who eventually left to teach English in China. When he left, the program lapsed a few months until a friend and I pitched in and committed to the task.

For many years, we shared the job and cumulatively, hundreds of people netted the benefits of running and playing and socializing for a few hours after work every week. When I think about the net benefit to the community over this period of time, I can only assume a huge value was given to our collective “health capital”.

Our Ministry of Health is the provinces biggest budgeted expense. This over 22 billion dollar behemoth performs no small task. However, I want to roll back to even the pre-covid period and expose what I perceive as a fatal flaw with the direction of our societal goals in addition to misdirection and appeasement from a top-down party strategy. In January 2019, you and I, through the conduit of our provincial representatives, chose to pass on the cost of our health tax to our employer. What this meant from a manipulative and strategic perspective, was that we now didn’t directly pay this money and our politicians could ride the collective wave of dopamine released from thinking this burden had somehow magically disappeared. Monetarily, our health is paid for by us. Our Health system, which stands at the ready, is now paid for by some.

What getting an employer to pay for does is side-shift the cost to employers and thus the employed. It is a strategic move that supposedly “we” chose. Our Green MLA had a far better idea at the time (Health Care Levy) but he compromised on the subject because of the regressive nature of the previous MSP system and the fact that he had conjoined with the “Orange Crush” (NDP) who didn’t wish to place it at the feet of Income Tax and pushed it on payroll.

At the municipality of Saanich, the transfer of health tax was immediately met with the cutting of programs. A ball hockey program gave citizens an opportunity for a tangible health benefit was now gone.

I commend you doubly this week if you ride to work. Firstly, you are doing yourself and your environment a great service. Secondly, as you pedal your way to better health, you will arrive at a place that puts a disproportionate burden of our health care system on you, a headwind, as it were.

With the climate so fine, a headwind might be a welcome impediment as opposed to cold and wet October weather. Enjoy these days to come and enjoy the fact that there are good and progressive ideas coming from OBGH. We will lose someone who had good and independent ideas when our current MLA leaves his post but the concepts for reform will remain and I assure you, we will carry on in this regard. Vote, run and ride as Independent MLA’s in your riding.

Pedal on.

Sincerely,

Ryan (rjgisler@hotmail.com)