Stitz, sorry, I didn't see your post until now. How will medical care be rationed? The same way it is now. As the ER physician in American Emergency stated, at this point (the ER) insurance coverage is no longer of consequence. Bone Marrow Transplant is only available up to a certain age, certain criteria have to be met for a heart or liver transplant, we have sensible rationing right now. Universal care is NOT FREE! Someone has to pay the bill. In a single payer system the government aka taxpayer pays all the charges. That does not necessarily make it more expensive, the opposite is true, the overall cost is much less with better results. Lets follow a hypothetical 60 year old man who is destined to get colon cancer. He has no insurance so he forgoes colonoscopies. At one point he notices rectal bleeding and goes to the ER. There he is diagnosed with advanced disease and soaks up a mountain of money (taxpayer's after he files for bankruptcy) and may or may not be cured. If he had insurance and had obtained a colonoscopy every 5 years he would have been diagnosed at an earlier stage, less cost and greater chance of cure. The ER which is point of entry for most of the uninsured is an extreemly wasteful; way to go and produces poor results. Getting back to the concept of Universal Care being 'FREE' one has to add up all the cost of our current system, private, public and anything in between. All these funds have to be redirected to the single payer, this should not result in a tax increase as the total cost of care will be less rather than more. There are many unintended or intended consequenses. Many of our products will be more competitive. GM spends more on health care for each car than on steel. Car insurance for example will become cheaper, medical cost for injuries are automatically covered and litigation is not necessary. No doubt many PI lawyers will have to get smaller boats, what a shame! Universal care will become true insurance where the risk is spread. Right now the risk is not spread, if you are HIV positive, chances are the taxpayer foots the bill, private insurance companies do not shoulder a proportionate risk. Even 'good plans' have a limit, maybe they will cover the first $250.000 after that let the taxpayer foot the bill. Don't forget to stop off at Bankruptcy Court first, you don't collect $200. I just hope Obama has the stamina to face the special interests down. Nick

Morning all, It is a beautiful, crisp, clear, blue sky day here. Finally some sunshine and I can tell that the days are getting longer. The other good news is that my tight blue jeans are just a little bit looser this morning. (I'm not planning on getting back on the scale until they fit)I thought if I saw the scale do something obscene, like be ten pounds heavier than the last time I got on it I'd have to kill myself. Anyway, I just finished rearranging my music on my new MP3 player that Doug bought me for Christmas and I'm going to rock and roll at the gym this morning. We've got a list a mile long of things to accomplish today and I'm just feeling like playing on my computer a bit longer so here I am. Monique! How fun is that. So happy you got your package too. What do you think about those mouse pads??? How neat is that? I thought you could use one and Les could use one. BTW, do you still have that fuchsia? I MUST have some of that so I can recreate that fabu combo next summer. Sue, Monique, Martie, Wendy, Chelone and anyone else interested, I'm going to plan for our annual Febuary Idyll get together. Is there any weekend that is better or worse for any of you???? I think Cynthia and GB should fly in for this also. (Wouldn't that be a blast?) MHT is such a short distance you could fly in and out on the same day if you wanted to or stay whichever worked the best. Michelle, how is that cold doing today??? Have you ever tried Zicam? I've used it for a couple years now and it really does work. If you start using it at the first symptoms of a cold it shortens the duration and lessens the symptoms of the URI. I've not been sick more than three days with cold since I started using that. Cynthia, good grief, aren't you feeding those furbies? They were so hungry they had to do a pantry raid in the middle of the night? Seriously, it's a good thing you heard the crash or you'd have had some sick puppies in the AM. Jerri, love, love, love the wolves story. Perfect! Thans for sharing that. Okie Dokie, I've got to get to the gym to try out that new workout music. Have a terrific Saturday everyone. Deanne PS Just for the record I really prefer birthdays on the Idyll thread but majority rules.

Hi, I don't disagree about the surcharge - but I don't want to have to pay it! Our bill is largely "delivery" as well as is our natural gas bill and I have the heat pumping. And we were one of the 10,000 Toronto residents who were selected for the smart meter trial program so while other people were burning every light in their homes and using every appliance at normal rates we were charged the variable rates. I don't think anyone should have had to pay the smart meter rates until everyone did. Same with the garbage bins - once again we were the first to receive them in Toronto - so were restricted as to what we could put out - whereas people on the other side of Yonge St. were putting out half of their house contents it often seemed (and no, we don't put out that much - but still). Then of course both of us have been called for jury duty - last time for me it was for a 4 month first degree murder trial. I know a lot of people who have never been called - and others who have gotten out of it for the most stupid of reasons. So I figure with just the two of us we are paying our share. Then there is the couple with hardly any health issues that can be treated who must pay for everyone elses' 12 prescriptions (the average - no kidding). Funny you should mention electricity though. You may have heard on the news just the other night that it is expect that hydro bills will go up 33% over the next 2 - 3 years. Apparently people are going to be allowed to purchase energy efficient windows and pay for them via their hydro bills - they sure had better be paying for ALL of their own windows - and what happens if they sell? More money for the real estate lawyer for sure. A disaster waiting to happen, I can see it now. I don't know what I am going to do next election - I am somewhat of an independent although there is one party I will absolutely never vote for - and the one I would have voted for has a leader that will cost them the election. Then of course there will be the Toronto elections - particularly for the mayor. I do have a candidate in mind unless he/she is endorsed by our ward Councillor and then it will be back to the drawing board. Re groceries I can't believe how much cheaper dairy is in the U.S. and meat. I read on this forum how much (little) people are paying for dairy and meat and I can't believe it. Of course, the dog gets only the best....And I did buy a $50 million Lotto max ticket for this week - I do not expect to win. Great that they tracked that woman down who won and had lost her ticket. It is a very good thing that she paid via her credit card and was the only person who had a cc purchase of $16 that day. I would be really ticked off to have 6 numbers but not the bonus for the 7th and only receive $115,000. But someone has to win, so why not me (or my dog, who might share). Should I win tomorrow night it will be a very long weekend waiting for 9:00 a.m. Mon. morning. I would have our banker come and take the deposit at the lotto office. A woman who won $12 million several years ago did exactly that. She told her bank that if they wanted the money to come and get it. They made the right decision. Oh, to be in that position.

I haven't seen anything about it. But since I don't work on Fridays, I wouldn't have had the early news and then Today on and the tv is hardly on most weekends. I haven't seen the first daughters in some time, they are lovely. Michelle's hair looks great! Nice pictures Robo - thanks for sharing.