Excellent summary, please read.
Couple of points that should concern all ABs...

While our Premier wants more private insurance:
"One estimate puts the profits of the top seven publicly traded insurance companies at $71 billion in 2024...
1/4policyalternatives.ca/news-research/… This is one of the reasons that the United States far outspends other high-income countries on health care as a share of GDP."
2/4

Govt sold Bill 11 as an amazing idea because shadow bureaucrats (the legions of consultants the UCP govt pays) told them it is a good idea. Govt told ABs "It works in Sweden"... but NOTHING we have here will look like what Sweden has.🧵
1/7
Sharing simple graphics to show just ONE major difference (there are soooooo many differences between our systems!)

Sweden has guaranteed wait times, if you can't get your care in the guaranteed timeframe they will pay for you to go to another region (or approved EU country)
2/7

This is an excellent op-ed 👇, give it a read.

If I might add: the numbers quoted here are if done under the PUBLIC PAY billing schedule (govt's costs)

They all INCREASE when for-profit companies can charge whatever they want....
1/3calgaryherald.com/opinion/column… AB reality today (all-in costs): 
- public MRI $500-650 for govt pay (can vary based on the scan type)
- private MRI $750-1200

when you allow profit-driver costs go up....

but there's also lots of reasons why you can't even compare Japan's system to ours...
2/3

I find the recent poll and "research" from MEI mind blowing...

This is the think tank that our Premier and govt is being "advised" by, and polls like these are designed and released simply to support a narrative.🧵
1/13 I hesitated commenting on this, but let's just break down their "Key Findings" and how they apply to AB:

1 - ​OBVIOUS: prov HC systems underperforming - not too much controversy...asked simply to lead into loaded Q's about ONE Way to address this (private care)
2/13

It's been almost 4 months since the tragic WR death at the GNH, and over a week since a stabbing in the RAH WR... and nothing is improving.

There has been a lot of talk, but no action.

A thread🧵:
1/10 There was a formal Quality Review after the death of Mr. Sreekumar, and all of the recommendations were "accepted"... yet they included actions like a "TLP WR doc" and bolstering admitting teams so that "capping" doesn't occur causing delays to care and admission.
2/10

Let's recap the current public record on the missing 49 Million Dollars:
- on FRIDAY Dec 20, 2024 the AHS CEO wrote to MHCare demanding reconciliation of the contract
1/8theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta… - on Monday Dec 23, the Minister's office ordered the CEO to cease and desist and "wind up the investigation"
- the deadline for MHCare to respond to the AHS demand to reconcile the contract was Jan 8, 2025
- AHS CEO was fired on Jan 8, 2025
2/8

WOWZER folks… this is some Grade A Bullshit… Shall we put some facts out there?

1 - Premier has it reversed - the Section of Emergency Medicine (SEM) “hoped govt would work with us to get these positions in place”. They haven’t met w us...
1/8

https://x.com/TheBreakdownAB/status/2026023880901767605?s=20

Not a single meeting. Nothing planned. NADA.

The Premier is talking about formal AMA negotiations?… the TLP is a disaster mode mitigating strategy that has NOTHING to do with formal negotiations - these take place every 4 YEARS! And she knows this.
2/8

Let’s break down the Govt’s response to 100s of doctors across the province publicly calling for the recognition that we are in a state of crisis/disaster/emergency, and asking for leadership and provincial coordination of a prov-wide response:
1/10

https://x.com/thebreakdownab/status/2013731215057023455?s=61

1 - send out the PR teams to call us “misguided” (surprised hysterical and hyperbolic weren’t used)
2 - state that we do have provincial coordination and operational control and that all means available are being done.
2/10

This reads to me that the calls to acknowledge that our HC system is in a medical "state of emergency" were not actually "misguided". It took 8 days to get a whole bunch of "generals" to stand-up and admit the troops are actually in trouble...

1/4edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new… I wonder, if HUNDREDS of physicians hadn't added their voices to the cry for help, if govt hoped this would just go away after officially and publicly gaslighting concerned vocal HC advocates?
2/4

I received a message from an Alberta ED colleague that stopped me cold. He treated a very elderly pt - a retired Charge Nurse who began her career as WWII ended. She waited 8 hours in the WR for care. Her assessment of our current reality is devastating....
1/8 She told the doc she has never seen it this bad. Not even before we had a formal healthcare system. But her most damning observation wasn't about the wait time or the lack of staff. It was about safety.
2/8

Let’s go into more depth as to why a state of emergency and ACTUAL PROVINCIAL COORDINATION of care MUST happen immediately to maintain a semblance of safe and timely care in EDM hospitals: 🧵
1/12theglobeandmail.com/canada/article… When one zone becomes overwhelmed there are emergency escalation measures that can be implemented to help maintain safe care
Some of which are:
- provincial wide load levelling
- bypassing a zone that is flooded - ex northern pts skip EDM and are sent to Calgary
2/12

Let’s look at REAL TIME DATA for our EDM Adult EDs RIGHT NOW:

Our EDs have become HOSPITAL WARDS that see the odd Emergency patient!
(Think about that: they can no longer care for undifferentiated new pts, forced to run in-pt ward care vast majority of their time)
1/8 The entire EDM Zone is operating with ~ 38 FUNCTIONAL Emerg beds for the entire city! (worse if you consider the MIS is MINUS 21 beds over non-surge capacity)

Couple of notes based on this real time date from TODAY:
2/8

Seeing more and more weighing in about how the GNH Triage nurse/ED team should be held to personal account makes me realize that the avg AB just doesn’t understand what an utter dumpster fire our major EDs have been for months/yrs.
1/9 It’s why it’s been in the news so much… and why I'm wasting so much breath trying to alarm the public … it is utter chaos and only getting worse.

Let me say this loud and clear: this case was tragic, but this is absolutely NOT the only death due to ED overcrowding.
2/9

Anybody who reads about this tragic case and thinks this has to do with a HCW not recognizing the severity at triage has simply NOT been paying attention.


1/14threadreaderapp.com/thread/2004381… Our triage system completely fails when we have DOZENS of triage level 2 and 3 pts in our WRs, with added severe overcrowding and unsafe levels of EIPs (EIP = SICK admitted pts that should be on specialized wards in the Hosp).
2/14

This is a tragic event, and my heart goes out to the pt's family.


1/14globalnews.ca/news/11590698/… I cannot speak to any specific details of this tragic event, but I do feel it is very important to state:

there is NO SITUATION where it is normal for a pt to wait >8hrs with severe chest pain if there is ANY meaningful flow in an ED that is functioning as it should be.
2/14

Take a read


Couple of things:
1 - BRAVO to this paramedic for speaking out. Let’s hope he doesn’t get punished for doing so (a JUST and SAFE culture simply no longer exists in AB)
1/9globalnews.ca/news/11588568/… 2 - nice to see ACA has to respond now, given that AHS has NO input into EMS anymore whatsoever! (I wonder if Dr. Diamond has a clear strategy for this byzantine org yet?)

3 - But let’s examine the govt/ACA “talking points”...
2/9

So the Premier has finally stated her vision for AB: hand over our Social Safety Net to FOR-PROFITS, non-profits, and let Charity cover the leftovers.
Not a lot of profit in "Orphans and widows", so let's hope our religious charities really ramp up.
Let's check some facts🧵
1/10

Let’s talk AFFORDABILITY in AB RIGHT NOW, before the Premier DESTROYS what is left of our social safety net:
2/10

https://x.com/TheBreakdownAB/status/1999697758555635944?s=20

There you have it: the Premier wants to take Canada to pre-WWII
She wants govt out of the social safety net.

Definitely not fiscally conservative:
You can pay for a child’s health and education now (cheap), or for policing, incarceration, and HC bankruptcy later (expensive)

https://twitter.com/thebreakdownab/status/1999697758555635944

She wants charities to provide HC?

Did she run on this retrograde vision for AB? Did Albertans vote for this? Do they want this?

Once our social safety net is destroyed it will be soooo much more expensive to rebuild it… rather than repair it now.

CONDOLANCES to my colleagues and the patients in the Edmonton Area.

They seem to be breaking overcrowding records everyday in Edmonton.

Last night the RAH ED had over 100 (ONE HUNDRED!) pts waiting in its waiting room.

Just try to imagine that...
1/6 Over 100 sick pts, many accompanied by family members, seeking medical attention, and being stranded in a waiting room that was never even designed to hold even 50 pts in it...

They had to spill over into internal waiting rooms and hallways and EMS hold spaces...
2/6

This highlights what so many HCWs have been worrired about: the UCP government cannot be trusted with the operation, the funding, or the integrity of our health system.
1/11theglobeandmail.com/canada/article… This is a SCANDALOUS MESS with numerous allegations that demand a PUBLIC INQUIRY.

They’ve betrayed every conservative promise of fiscal responsibility…

THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH YOUR MONEY: $614M WASTED.
2/11

I don't disagree with the premise that there is TOO MUCH Two-tier HC in Canada already... far too much.

Every day in our EDs, we see the ramifications of this.
1/9theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl… Because we already DON'T:
- pay for someone's diabetes medicine but rather spend THOUSANDS of dollars on hospital care when they get really sick from their poorly controlled diabetes.
2/9