Archive for the ‘Health Debates’ Category
Doctor-bashing’s not the cure for health-care costs
May. 17, 2012
… everyone behaves as if the competition for resources is a zero-sum game and no one is rewarded for acting in the collective interest. The system virtually guarantees turf wars. As a result, the medical professions resemble medieval guilds – fiercely protectionist, rigidly conservative and jealous of their status and perks… There are lots of cheaper, more effective ways to do health care. But the system is rigged to squash innovation… We spend around 12 per cent of our GDP on health care. Singapore spends around 2.4 per cent. By almost any measure, Singapore has better health-care outcomes than we have.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
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Why not put all Ontario doctors on salary?
May 11, 2012
In spite of doctors’ initial misgivings, fee-for-service medicare turned out to be a bonanza. They could still charge piece-work rates. But their payments were guaranteed by government… Ontario’s government, for instance, began by negotiating overall financial settlements with the Ontario Medical Association, leaving physicians to divvy up the pot. But that proved unsatisfactory since it allowed the most politically powerful factions within the OMA to reap the bulk of the rewards. This in turn left some areas — particularly general practice medicine — woefully underfunded.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, tax
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A character study of mental illness and change
May 6, 2012
“We do have a problem with perceptions of dangerousness among people with mental illnesses… We know that prisons, jails, are the last great asylums of North America for people with mental illness”… At the same time… a shift in public attitudes to mental health has opened vast new possibilities for progress all across the spectrum of mental health… Big philanthropy has followed suit…. “This is about managing risk. You can’t control genes, you can’t pick your parents. But genes are not absolute destiny… The extent to which stigma, illiteracy or shame stops people from checking things out is a tragedy.”
Tags: Health, mental Health, philanthropy, standard of living
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Health Canada cuts funding to women’s health research groups
Apr 25 2012
Six organizations studying how government policies on everything from toxic chemicals to the legacy of residential schools impact women’s health will lose their funding as part of widespread cuts to the federal budget. Health Canada expects to save $2.85 million a year by eliminating the Women’s Health Contribution Program, which supports the work of four research centres and two communications networks across the country, by next March… the biggest loss will be how the groups went beyond clinical research to focus on how particular government policies and regulations affect the health of women.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living, women
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Active federal participation in health care remains essential
Apr 14 2012
the 2012 federal budget cut Health Canada, and said nothing about meaningful change. The only nod to improving the system was a three-year, $6.5-million study on cost-effectiveness in health care. But that ignores the mountains of evidence we already have about how to improve our health-care system while making it more efficient. It’s becoming baffling to Canadians as to why our federal government wouldn’t co-ordinate a national pharmacare system that could save billions.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
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Health Canada should not have closed National Aboriginal Health Organization
Apr. 09, 2012
… NAHO has played a crucial role in advancing research on aboriginal health, collecting and analyzing data, and leading community initiatives, such as programs to help people quit smoking, prevent suicide and avoid teen pregnancy… Aboriginals face unique challenges that seriously impact their health… The closure of NAHO will… leave a gaping hole for those who are most in need.
Tags: budget, Health, Native, standard of living
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Toronto doctor worries budget cuts will affect poor patients the most
Mar 27 2012
… for Bloch, a family physician and University of Toronto professor who founded Health Providers Against Poverty, the government’s austerity-focused agenda does a disservice to public health, especially for the poor… “I’m very concerned… I’m worried it’s a cut with a dull knife and it’s largely the people who live in poverty, especially the extreme end of poverty, who are impacted the most.”… he added that wider social service cuts recommended in the budget — freezing welfare and disability support payments, for example — will likely do enormous damage to his patients’ health in the short-term.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Premier says two birth centres will create ‘new option for our moms’
March 20, 2012
… the decision to invest $6 million in the pilot centres, which will be run by midwives and promote natural childbirth in a community setting, “marks the beginning of an important evolution in how we deliver babies in Ontario.”… Midwives at the centres will care for mothers from conception through to six weeks post-partum and serve as community hubs for prenatal education, breastfeeding and parenting support… Currently, four out of every 10 Ontario women who want a midwife can’t get one, largely because midwives are restricted in the number of hospital births they can attend.
Tags: economy, Health, women
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PM’s priorities out of touch
Jan 19 2012
It’s time to take a scalpel to all those useless programs involving education, health care, government services, social programs and the environment. And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of that useless freedom of information nonsense. I sure by now we all know we can trust our government to put our taxes into the things that matter and serve those who matter. / Canadians named health care as their number one federal election issue, yet, the Conservatives have chosen to cut Health Care Transfers and abandon their health care responsibilities.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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Why medicare needs Ottawa
Jan. 16, 2012
Writing cheques and walking away from the duty to improve medicare is not only a retrograde step that endangers health care and the economy, it also reveals a vision of an increasingly shrivelled and parochial federation, where governments look inward and the whole becomes a pastiche of increasingly isolated parts. Here are seven reasons why a strong federal presence in health care is vital to Canada:
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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