Survey results lead to Social Media usage

The chronic and constant uncertainty surrounding the Alberta heath care system lately is making a complex situation even more uncertain for the public and professionals. In the face of growing doubts about the direction and destination of the Alberta health care system there is a need for clarity and focus. As part of a project to bring clarity and focus on the roles, responsibilities, relationships, and scope of nursing care in the province, the CLPNA decided to find out what Albertans valued most about professional nursing care.

The CLPNA recent hired my firm, Cambridge Strategies Inc. to perform a “most/least” conjoint on-line survey of over 900 randomly sampled Albertans that tracked and ranked 15 key values around professional nursing care. We also ran a parallel program of the on-line conjoint survey for members of the CLPNA and were delighted to have 1461 participants. The findings are enlightening and should be instructive, reassuring, and empowering to Licensed Practical Nurses working in Alberta today, even with all the turmoil in health care these days.

I say the results should be reassuring to LPNs because the value alignment and priorities of the public’s and those LPNs who took the survey are virtually identical. In other words LPNs believe in the same values and in the same way as the public as to what is important and expected in providing professional nursing care.

So what are those important shared values? In order of priority the most important attributes for professional nursing care are Skilled, Knowledgeable, Caring/Compassion, Thorough, and Ethical care. These values dominate. They are only 33% of the values surveyed, but for 88% of the survey participants’, one of them were the #1 value choice. That means if you want to satisfy 88% of the public’s expectations in how you provide professional nursing care you have to deliver on this five values.

Read the complete “Survey Says” article published in the Spring 2010 issue of CARE magazine.

The good news for LPNs is that these values are the core professional and personal values that you overwhelming subscribe to each and every day on the job. The next big question and challenge is how well are LPNs delivering and communicating their delivery of these values to patients, the public and the power-that-be in making health care policy?

LPNs have to explain to people how they fit into the overall medical model. Clarifying the health care roles of the Doctors to diagnose and design; Nursing administrators and managers to manage and plan; and LPNs to directly deliver care at the bedside, is a key to any successful communication for the LPN profession. Everyone has their role and responsibilities, but the LPN has the opportunity at the bedside to be most effective and efficient in minute-by-minute skilled, knowledgeable, and compassionate care giving. The LPN can and should be a reassuring source for human concern for people in care who are extremely vulnerable, scared and often uninformed or misinformed about what is happening to them and what is being done for them.

Based on the survey results, skilled, knowledgeable, caring, compassionate nursing is what the people of Alberta want. That is what you are, and what you do because it is in your nature. Now you have to make sure to Talk-the-Walk if you are going to get the respect and rewards you deserve. This is how you show commitment to your profession and yourself as a professional. You also need to have conversations with your friends, families, and personal networks so they can understand and value the role, responsibility and relationship of Licensed Practical Nurses in the health care system of Alberta, and the people you serve.

Your message will be clear: Licensed Practical Nurses provide Competent, Committed Care and play an important role in the effectiveness of Alberta’s health care system.

Communicate, communicate, and communicate!! We have worked closely with Linda Stanger, Executive Director of CLPNA and her team in formulating a plan which involves sharing LPN messaging with key audiences including other health care professionals, stakeholders, policy decision-makers, media and Albertans.

In addition to connecting with the mainstream media, we will be using social media as a way to get our message out. The use of social media is cost-effective, immediate, relationship-based, and encourages word-of-mouth communications. Social media efforts will be interactive with you using email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our CLPNA Blog and website for content and distribution.

Discussing on our Blog: http://blog.clpna.com
Liking us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CLPNA
Following us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CLPNA
Watching us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/CLPNA

We will need help from any LPN who wants to be part of the solution to help make this happen. We will be in touch and provide you with training and workshops as well as coaching and mentorship on how to use social media to get our messages out to Albertans. Learning about social media is fun. It is also a very important tool for you professionally and personally. Word of mouth is known to be the most effective method of communication, and LPNs are in the best position to use it.

The bottom line is Licensed Practical Nurses have a lot to be proud of in relation to how you contribute to the well-being of Albertans. The problem is you are too inhibited and reticent to blow your own horns. This has to change. It is not about being brash or boastful. It is about being caring and compassionate. It is about taking the time to explain to patients and other what LPNs do and to assure the public of your skills, knowledge, experience, and capacity to serve the greater good as you do your jobs – day in and day out. That’s exactly what the public wants!

View the original article here

WSIB and the contracted or independent worker (Ontario)

Let’s talk about your issues as a self employed contractor, shall we?

If you are an “employee” your company must by law insure you for workplace related injury. This might explain why so many companies are forcing employees to go on contract, and hiring them back at higher wages in lieu of benefits.

And, this is not necessarily a bad thing for you as the contracted employee. There are tax advantages, and if done right, more protection options in areas of disability coverage that will put you in the driver’s seat. Nortel has proven that group LTD is not the be all and end all, and it should send shock waves through the corporate employees to realize they had better take measure to protect themselves. But we are here to focus now on WSIB.

Perhaps your client is looking to cut back on cost, and by hiring companies and contractors, they can avoid the high premiums of WSIB.

Specifically, what are your issues and shortfalls with the WSIB insurance program?

The best little graph I have seen so far is this one that compares the WSIB situation with that offered by private disability:

Workplace Safety & Insurance Board On the Job Coverage Only (Work Related Injury plus Illness)24 Hour Coverage Injury optional illness coverage at Home, Work or Play. Covers any type of injury or illnessExtended Health (Work Related Only)Extended Health (Blanket Coverage). Alternative to WSIB contracts may offer $10,000 to $100,000 of Accidental Medical Emergency coverage. Group or Individual Extended Health contracts offer blanklet coverage any type of medical coverage to the terms of the contract purchased.Rehabilitation discretion of WSIBReturn to work with Modified Duties*Unlimited Rehabilitation Benefit in good contracts, others limited to the limit within the terms of the contract. *Return to work once client is able to return to work in his own occupation thereafter any occupationWSIB doctor assessment of injury60 day coverage, options for higher sprain & strain coverage or no limit on sprain or strain Non Cancellable contracts with a 30 day wait offer NO limitation on Sprains & StrainsCoverage capped to reflect average industry wage1st year capped at $22, 567.00. Normal Rate for Owner Operator $5.78 per $100 of replacement Income based on net $32,000 of replacement income. Annual Premium $1,849.60Overall Maximum Combined of $6,000 monthly for both Loss of Income and Business Overhead Expense Reimbursement.Coverage based on Gross or Net Taxable Income. Average Rate for Injury Only Coverage $3.76 per day. Annual Premium of $1,349.88 or $112.49/mo. Add Extended Health Coverage Optional. Annual Premium $2,098.68.Long Term Disability to Age 65 or 70 based on any occupation, education, training and skill.Accidental Death & Dismemberment $300,000Accidental Death & Dismemberment up to $500,000Specific to Small Business Owners needsMandatory for Employees, Optional for Business OwnersInflexible to alternate coverage in place.Flexible. Purchase coverage by assessing your overall needs.

 I would add that the best policies will not force you to find a job outside of your occupation. And, this is important as your earnings increase with talent and experience. Why should you flip burgers at $7 per hour, when you have been trained at a specialty for $50 per hour? Why should you be penalized? Short answer – you shouldn’t!

It would seem there is a whole industry surrounding WSIB, it’s pitfalls, the complications of getting it, etc.

I just spoke to a client in his 30’s that was told by WSIB, that should he qualify, the premium would be 8.7% of his wage.

So, if he earned $3000 per month, the premium would be $261 per month.

Wow!

What would he be getting for that $261?

Well, what he is getting may better be described by what he is not getting.

If he was in a car accident outside of work and became disabled – nothing.If he got an illness such as cancer or a heart attack that rendered him disabled – nothing.any other accident outside of work time and duties – nothing again.

The point is, if you are going to insure yourself adequately, why not be in control and be insured for any reason that might cause a disability?

Are you any less in need of money for disability issues not covered by WSIB? No.

As brokers, we are able to access the best disability plans, at the best cost, and these plans are yours.

In other words, good disability policies will be portable, will not be cancellable, and the rates are locked in at the time you take out the coverage.

Some plans can and do pay back a portion of premiums if you cash in, at 25% or 50%, and some allow you to convert them to other forms of income streams at retirement – specifically long term care coverage.

This literally leaves WSIB and it’s offering in the “dust”.

Like all protection, for the money, what is the best value?

Well, it certainly is not the schedule of benefits offered by WSIB.

The company you are contracted with, and that requires you by law to insure yourself, needs to know you are covered. By getting good coverage, they can be given a copy and their liability is over.

WSIB reminds me of an option in life insurance known as AD & D (accidental death and dismemberment).

AD&D will double the amount of insurance if death is caused by accident. So, I suppose if you get diagnosed with cancer, it would be a good idea to drive off the nearest tall bridge to ensure your family gets enough money.

Crazy or what?

Give us a call, and we can take care of your needs properly. 1.866.856.6799

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Conspiracy theory Friday (FDA & CCHIT related)

Two fun things—First, Mark Leavitt says he’s quitting CCHIT in March. He says that he’ll be 60 then and wants to go do other stuff. Of course the cynics among you will say that he’s had enough of being beaten up by David Kibbe and Brian Klepper, and that CCHIT’s role as arbiter of meaningful use has been downgraded by David Blumenthal. Leavitt says in his outgoing email (not on any website I can find but I have a copy)

It also happens that this announcement comes the day after Blumenthal sends out an email to the Health IT world that Vince Kuraitis (at the very least) sees as a direct shot at large health IT vendors whose products don’t play nice with others (i.e. aren’t too interoperable) yet are already CCHIT certified. Here’s Vince’s take on who should have got that email.

Second, the twittersphere has been abuzz with a series of hearings where the FDA has been taking opinions on how and why they should regulate Pharma advertising in social media. this is a non-trivial issue for both sides. Pharma wants to reach patients, patients want those social media players to exist, and the sites need money (which will have to come from Pharma, unless something changes in the space time continuum). I don’t pretend to know the outcome except to remind you all (via Bill Silberg) that a similar meeting was held more than a decade ago and the result was….nothing. no guidance, no policy. 

Matthew: I wish Mark all the best in his next position, where ever life takes him. He's a very smart and competent person, who I have known for almost 20 years, and who has always had tremendous energy and resolve. I'm sure he'll continue to do well. Regards, DCK

Posted by: David C. Kibbe, MD MBA | Nov 13, 2009 1:23:24 PM

Do not underestimate the importance of the FDA's new leadership. For one thing, the FDA has lacked a long term, permanent leader for years and years, making it difficult to form and execute coherent policy. For another, the new Comish and deputy are well liked by the employees, from my inside contacts, and are savvy, activist people. My hopes for them are higher than they have been in a long time.

As for CCHIT, perhaps this is an example of the power of the people after all. I still think the FDA should regulate, at least in general terms, all health-related IT system functions other than simple data storage. There are too many bad, large vendor-driven systems out there which, besides not being interoperable, can be outright dangerous.

Posted by: bev M.D. | Nov 13, 2009 1:45:24 PM

And I should have said that, while poking fun from the sidelines, I dont think that anyone has ever suggested that Mark was not working for the betterment of health care delivery via Health IT. And a leader with his skills and experience will continue to make a contribution somewhere.

Posted by: Matthew Holt | Nov 13, 2009 2:46:07 PM

Agreed. Mark has worked very hard to move things forward in Health IT. I hope he'll find another venue where he can put his considerable talents and positive intentions to good use for us all.

Posted by: Brian Klepper | Nov 13, 2009 3:39:25 PM

1.Too bad! I won't have any more opportunities to write posts like David Kibbe & Mark Leavitt : Openness vs. Opacity.

2. The FDA meeting offered some very interesting presentations and was much more interesting than what I originally expected. I would be very surprised if the new FDA does not come up with recommendations, within the normal DC timeframe (<25 yrs). After announcing originally that there would be no cell phone reception and no WiFi at the hearing on social media (!) , and after blocking CNBC from bringing a camera inside the hearing room, the FDA finally provided real time video streaming of the entire meeting. Extra kudos to @skypen who gave one the very best presentations and created http://fdasm.com where anyone interested in this topic can find all they need.

Posted by: Gilles Frydman | Nov 14, 2009 1:58:38 PM

Mark has worked very hard to forward the agenda of HIMSS vendors that he represents. His agenda has hurt the many EMR vendors that CCHIT has marginated. His agenda has hurt physicians who end up purchasing costlier, bloated, unusable "certified" EHR systems. His agenda has led to the HITECH Act, another cash-for-clunkers scheme which is a Federal mandate which has forced doctors to actually "significantly use" these certified clunkers or else get penalized by big government.

May he RIP, but to cast him as a friend of IT and a friend of health care is misguided. Good riddance Leavitt- go to an island far, far away.

Posted by: Al Borges MD | Nov 30, 2009 4:09:40 AM

An observation immediately jumps off this page, based on the content seen here, folks appear to be hitting the anxiolytics and SSRI's to heavily. Let's not forget there is a half life to using this stuff.

Now back to the business at hand, this page reads like a farewell to a benevolent king. How quick you are to forget that this man operated a business with an intent to make profits without a business license and with a defunct state charter, passing himself off as the panacea for ulcers caused by a lack of certifying body.

Let us think of Mark's resignation as required debridement of a nasty wound. The sugar-coated words of those who have engaged in battle with Mark Leavitt come upon us like a wet to dry dressing that is just too wet. I say tear the bandage off, and let the air at it!

Posted by: Walla Walla | Nov 30, 2009 9:30:16 PM

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PHARMA: Reprieve for Amgen looking doubtful

In a story titled somewhat cryptically Medicare chief stands by anemia move (do they mean he’s trying to become anemic?) Reuters reports that CMS is not backing down from its decision to radically cut payments for anti-anemia drugs for chemotherapy patients. In English this means that Amgen’s Arenesp (& Epogen, though that’s not officially for cancer patients) and J&J’s Procit (which is Epogen re-marketed by J&J) are not going to recover their lost sales from last year.  Those sales began to be lost when studies revealed that the fairly rampant use of those drugs was overuse, and also that they were causing some severe side-effects.

Of course for reasons that we all know (e.g. they have little to do with clinical endpoints and more to do with financial ones), community oncologists have flipped out. I do like the response from Dr. Barry Straube, the chief medical officer at CMS. He said:

Of course the real impact of this was not on patients per se, but on Amgen’s stock price, which has not had the best of years. The little rally late last year was on hopes that CMS would change its mind. I’m afraid that that gravy train looks like it’s over.

What do we do about the anemia drug controversy?

Most doctors and patients would agree the drugs are very helpful for patients when used to correct "severe" anemia, which can be debilitating and even life-threatening. The drugs reduce the need for somewhat risky blood transfusions and can give patients more energy and improve their quality of life.

''These are drugs that were presumed to be entirely safe, given for supportive care and to improve quality of life,'' not to actually treat cancer, said Dr. Eric Winer, director of breast oncology center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. ''So any concern that they could shorten someone's life are taken quite seriously.''

There is little evidence that the drugs make much difference for patients with "moderate" anemia. Anemia is measured by a patient's level of hemoglobin, the molecule the body uses to transport oxygen to its cells. Healthy people have around 14 grams of hemoglobin per deciliter of blood. Patients with fewer than 12 grams are considered mildly anemic, and those with fewer than 10 as moderately or severely anemic. The labels on the drugs approved by the FDA encourage doctors to aim for a hemoglobin level of 10 to 12.

Critics of the drugs say their increased use has been driven by profit. According to Dr. John Glaspy, director of UCLA's Outpatient Oncology Clinic, one complicating factor is that oncologists make significant revenue buying cancer drugs from manufacturers and charging patients a higher price for receiving the drugs in their offices. That profit motive could influence some doctors' decisions.

Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, told UPI last year that "probably more than a billion dollars is spent on erythropoietin each year, which makes it one of the most expensive cancer drugs." A six-month course of treatment can cost more than $10,000 per patient.

After this issue had started to be reported, U.S. Oncology took an 8-10 million dollar hit in its first-quarter SEC report last year, including reduced pre-tax income due to lower use of anemia drugs. They also were handicapped by CMS stopping the Medicare Demonstration Project which paid chemotherapy providers $130 per report, per infusional-chemotherapy recipient, on a patient's level of nausea, vomiting, pain and fatigue, something that Congress found out that they were supplying free of charge anyway.

A continuance of the Medicare Demonstration Project would have exacerbated existing economic and clinical problems instead of resolving them by increasing the temptations for physicians to overuse injectable drugs and promise to aggravate the economic problems Congress attempted to fix with the new Medicare law.

A New York Times article reported last year that Federal laws bar drug companies from paying doctors to prescribe medicines that are given in pill form and purchased by patients from pharmacies. However, companies can rebate part of the price that doctors pay for drugs, like the anemia medicines, which they dispense in their offices as part of treatment. Doctors receive the rebates after they buy the drugs from the companies, but they also receive reimbursement from Medicare or private insurers for the drugs, often at a markup over the doctors' purchase price.

Although the new Medicare bill tried to curtail this kind of drug concession, private insurers still go along with it. What needs to be done is to remove the profit incentive from the choice of drug treatments. Let's take physicians out of the retail pharmacy business and force them be doctors again!

Posted by: Gregory D. Pawelski | Feb 9, 2008 6:17:12 AM

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Happy Birthday, Viagra!

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn

It's the drug that raised the profile of medicine in popular culture. It's been hawked by a prominent politician and has been the butt of jokes on late-night TV. It's Viagara, and it's turning 10 today.

The FDA approved the drug on March 27, 1998. Here is the FDA's approval page for it.

Pfizer's Viagra reshaped pharmaceutical marketing in several ways. The company used direct-to-consumer advertising to great effect, and changed the game of DTC by advertising the drug not only in late at night broadcast outlets.

More broadly, the marketing of Viagra bolstered the trend of medicalization of everyday life. Viagra's origin as sildenafil citrate was targeted to cardiovascular medicine. Originally conceived as a heart drug for hypertension and angina, the molecule was, serendipitously, found to be useful in erectile dysfunction.

In 1998, three scientists who studied the dynamics of nitric oxide, the secret sauce in Viagra, won the Nobel Prize.

Jane's Hot Points: One of the most informative primers on Viagra is this book from Meika Loe of Colgate University. In it, she observes that we are Viagra nation where, "our sexual status quo has shifted dramatically." Ten years after Viagra's entry on the health scene, the search remains for a "pink viagra," a version for women. No one can deny the game-changing role that Viagra has played in American health care and in popular culture.

March 27, 2008 in Pharma | Permalink

Here's funny poke at Viagra marketing.

http://www.thrillahill.com/ncfbm.html

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIAGRA

Posted by: pudn | Apr 4, 2008 5:58:32 AM

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Grande Fratello ANTONELLO DE PIERRO Grande Fratello ANTONELLO DE PIERRO

Posted by: luca | Apr 25, 2008 5:13:19 AM

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A me-too strategy for me-too drugs

By DAVID E. WILLIAMS

AstraZeneca appears set to follow Merck into the market for “bio-similars.” (See AstraZeneca may join generic rush.) Congress and the media tend to portray biosimilars are analogous to generic chemistry-based pharmaceuticals, and therefore believe that they will lead to much lower prices as a result of the commoditization of these products. If all goes according to plan, that should cut the price of biologics by 50 to 95 percent as has been the case for generic versions of traditional pharmaceuticals.

Pharma and biotech companies aren’t seeing it this way and neither am I. Although they won’t say so, pharma companies are starting to realize that biosimilars –which unlike traditional generics cannot be subsituted by a pharmacist for a branded product– are really like me-too products within a class of drugs. That’s exactly the model that’s enabled multiple blockbusters within a given class in the mainstream pharma business, and led to higher spending overall. Biosimilars are unlikely to be a lot cheaper than the products they copy, and they will have all the sales and marketing costs associated with a branded product, plus some of the development costs. Don’t be surprised if some biosimilars are actually priced higher than the original products, based on some real or perceived improvement in efficacy or safety. That’s what happened when me-too drugs like Lipitor entered the statin market. (See Generic biologics — or Me Too Drugs 2.0? for more details.)

AstraZeneca won’t be the last company to pursue this strategy. If a regulatory pathway for bio-similars is established in the US, every big pharma will jump on the bandwagon.

If policymakers want to control the cost of biologics, there’s a much simpler and easier way. Simply regulate the price of biologics once their patents expire. That would have several advantages:

It wouldn’t even be that bad for biologics companies. They’d already have earned their profits during the patented life of the product, and would retain 100 percent market share post-patent expiration. They can’t really complain about the government interfering with the free market, considering that patents are granted by the government in the first place.

The only real losers in this plan would be generic biologics companies. Since the industry doesn’t even really exist yet, now is a good time to implement my scheme.

The Potential Fallacies Associated With Me-Too Medications

“But corruption is neither need based nor greed based. It’s simply opportunity based.” -----Billy Tauzin, president and C.E.O. of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s most powerful lobbying group, as Mr. Tauzin stated in Boston recently.
It has been said by others that the pharmaceutical industry should not have government regulation or interference from our government at all because that would drastically limit if not eliminate innovation as well as our health care choices and options, both from the perspective of the doctor and the patient, so the public has been told often by others. Also what has been stated by this industry that their internal controls prevent wrongdoing? So, according to some, the public’s health would be limited and possibly harmed without the copious innovation of this industry. As with other issues we face as citizens, this is another attempt by these others to apparently install fabricated fear in our minds- void of any proof or reason, and is a fallacy.
As it has turned out, the pharmaceutical industry’s lack of innovation in particular has happened and they have appeared to do this on their own, overall, those innovators and lifesavers.
Over the past several years, those few meds created and FDA approved with true therapeutic advantages happened by discovery with government involvement in over half of these meds with clear clinical advantages for certain patients. Conversely, of the new chemical entities approved lately and developed by drug companies, over 50 percent of these have microscopic therapeutic advantage for patients, so I understand upon information and belief. This inefficient drug development by the pharmaceutical industry has created what is now the dominant development strategy of drug companies, and this strategy is known as the intentional development of what are phrased, ‘me too’ drugs.
These drugs essentially are small molecular variations of the original molecule in a particular class of medications. In other words, they tweak the original molecule in order to obtain patent rights for their now new drug project. This me too objective of drug companies now accounts, I believe, for about 80 percent of the research budgets of drug companies. And because the FDA only requires a potential med to be superior to a placebo in their mandatory clinical trials, usually these me too meds are approved- regardless of their necessity for others, or the need for such drugs.
And me too drugs are selected by the drug company for their potential blockbuster status as well as the speculated growth of a particular market, which means making over 1 billion dollars a year on such a drug, at least. For example, statin drugs, for high cholesterol patients, is a multi- billion dollar market. As a result, there are several statin meds now available for use by doctors to prescribe to their patients. Yet, arguably, me too drugs are all essentially very similar in regards to safety, efficacy, and cost, regardless of the class referred to so often saturated with me too meds, with few exceptions. The differences overall are minor once again with most me too drugs, overall. As aggressive marketers, the makers of these meds are suspected of doing a bit of publication planning, it is suspected, to falsely claim superiority of their newly approved me too drug over all the other drugs in a particular class both during and after the creation of these me too meds. Also, other classes of meds with several me too drugs may include SSRI anti-depressant drugs, as well as those meds for hypertension. There may be a dozen drugs in a particular class of medications that are all essentially the same in regards to their treatment abilities for patients with such disease states that they treat.
Now, there may be cases where a patient tolerates one drug in a class over another for unknown reasons, so in these few cases, some me too drugs occasionally are beneficial for patients for some reason or another, but should absolutely not be a primary objective of the drug companies to create them as often as they do. Instead, true innovation and discovery should be the focus of pharmaceutical companies, and it does not appear to be the focus of the pharmaceutical industry, presently. It appears that, thanks to the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, they license molecules from those in the academic world, and then proceed with development of another’s creation they claim as their own.
Further vexing is that competition in the pharmaceutical industry amazingly does not and has not been of any financial benefit for the consumer, as competition normally does create. This fact is greatly demonstrated with other industries and is the apex of business operations. This pharmaceutical industry model is an exception, and the reason for this remains an unknown, as far as the etiology of being deprived of this costly environment of drug spending, yet it can be speculated that the me too drug makers claim uniqueness of their me too drug, which is rather deceptive.
This progressive marketing paradigm of the pharmaceutical industry, such as the creation of me too meds solely for their own profit, clearly illustrates their focus on these issues over true research and science, so it seems. Innovation, along with ethics, use to define this pharmaceutical industry. Sadly, it seems this is not the case today, which ultimately and potentially deprives potential treatment methods potentially for the public health if the objectives were focused on their true purpose. Yet hopefully, such historical qualities of drug companies will return some time, in time.
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” --- Oscar Wilde
Dan Abshear
Author’s note: What has been written was based on information and belief.

Posted by: dan | Jan 23, 2009 6:48:17 PM

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WSIB alternatives in Ontario

Houston, we have a problem!

And the problem for the self-employed and contracted workers in Ontario are the hefty fees that WSIB is charging.

The problem with WSIB is not only  the high rates, but the fact that it covers workplace related incidents – nothing off the job!

What happens when you become disabled at home, or in your car, or anywhere else for that matter?

 The short answer – WSIB will not cover you.

I recently discussed this coverage with a gentleman that was quoted the rate by WSIB at 8.7% of his gross wage. His premium was going to be well over $800 per month just to be able to work! But what if the company you work for has “contracted” you and you cannot seem to convince WSIB to insure you? Are you then effectively unable to produce an income?

No matter what your health, there are companies that we can insure you with that are far superior to WSIB, and the odds of being declined for the accident coverage portion is almost non-existent.

This means no expensive “consultation” with experts and lawyers to appeal your WSIB ruling is required!

We looked at an alternative, well-rounded personal disability plan that covers disability on or off the job, and includes sickness, and the premium was $111 per month – a savings of almost $700.

If WSIB is able to mandate all self-employed workers to have this high-priced cash grab by 2012 there are going to be many angry self-employed families.

It is bad enough the government taxes us in several ways already, but the WSIB premiums may make the other taxes pale in comparison.

I will be working with several others to lobby against this, and I urge you to do the same. Let me know you are unhappy about the WSIB’s plans, and let’s form an alliance to combat this cash-grab.

The bottom line is that the insurance industry has plenty to offer, that makes the offering from WSIB non-competitive indeed.

Please contact me for a review of your disability needs at 1 866 856 6799, extension 201. Located in the GTA, we can personally look after you with old fashioned, face to face service!

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