CBC News Posted:Aug 23, 2011
Municipalities around B.C. are throwing their support behind a call to end Medical Services Plan premiums for seniors. Advocates plan to raise the issue at a meeting of the Union of B.C. Municipalities in September. The fight to end premiums for seniors is led by Fred Coates, of Agazziz, who heads the B.C. Old Age Pensioners Organization . "We shouldn't be paying for it when seniors in other provinces right across Canada are not," Coates told CBC News. "Why does the British Columbia government still allow this to go on?" B.C. and Ontario are the only provinces that charge individuals a premium for health care. In B.C., it's free for people with a net annual income under $22,000. But anyone making more than $30,000 has to pay the full rate of $60.50 a month per person, or $109 for a couple. In Ontario, you have to make nearly $72,000 before you pay that much. The B.C. Retired Teachers Association also supports Coates' initiative. "The MSP premium is the tip of an iceberg, and the iceberg is a very unfair and regressive taxation policy," said Cliff Boldt, the association's vice-president. Coates said the issue will be debated at the UBCM's annual convention in September.
2 comments:
The B.C. Retired Teachers Association also supports Coates' initiative.
Now doesn't this take the cake. Retired Teachers with pensions of $50,000 plus wanting something for nothing.
One can only laugh when you consider that 85% of Teacher's pension funds are in invested in Non-Union Assets.
Must be an election on the horizon for all the UBCM politico's to be advocating something for nothing to the electorate!
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