The Dutch and Danes have much to teach Canada about better health care
Friday, February 7th, 2025
Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands all spend roughly the same per capita on health care… But both Denmark and the Netherlands have many more physicians per capita than Canada – about 60 per cent more… One of the best lessons Canada can take from European and Nordic countries with great primary care is the importance of teamwork. Nurses and practice assistants… do a lot of triage and care, and physicians focus on more serious issues.
Tags: budget, Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Does the Canada Health Act require reinterpretation, or a more fundamental rethink?
Thursday, January 16th, 2025
The Canada Health Act clearly states that “physician services” and “hospital services” are covered by medicare. There is nothing about “physician-equivalent services.” … But, if some of the work of NPs, pharmacists and midwives is to be considered essential, what about psychologists, physiotherapists and other allied health professionals? And while we’re at it: Should everything doctors do be considered medically necessary and covered by medicare?
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The premiers need to get serious about health care reform, not just funding
Tuesday, July 11th, 2023
… the premiers need to commit to some semblance of a coherent, co-ordinated plan… What the health system needs right now is swift and collective action from the premiers in identifying problem areas and setting clear goals for longer-term changes. You can’t measure progress without targets and timelines. Nor can you have any accountability.
Tags: jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A significant milestone in lifting people with disabilities out of poverty
Tuesday, June 27th, 2023
This is a significant milestone, potentially the most important addition to Canada’s social safety net since the Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors was introduced in 1967… The CDB is desperately needed. About one in five Canadians live with a physical, developmental or psychiatric disability… The new benefit should, in theory, lift more than 1.4 million Canadians living with disabilities out of poverty.
Tags: disabilities, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Should we spend more on health? Only if we get better care
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020
… what the premiers are proposing is that the feds absorb some of their current spending. They want Ottawa to transfer money rather than use their own powers of taxation to increase revenues… This pandemic, more than anything, has exposed the shortcomings in health and welfare systems, particularly in caring for elders and other marginalized groups. That’s what we need to fix. The last thing we need is buck-passing.
Tags: budget, child care, Health, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, tax
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A long-term care home is no place for younger people with disabilities
Thursday, August 20th, 2020
“We don’t know how many young people are living in LTC homes. What we do know is there are far too many”… Self-directed or self-managed care programs exist all over Europe and in several Canadian provinces… The common assumption… is that institutional care is cost-effective and self-directed care is too expensive. But that’s not true.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
We must do more to protect people with dementia
Tuesday, August 4th, 2020
… 40 per cent of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by targeting a dozen modifiable risk factors, ranging from making sure every child gets an education through to controlling high blood pressure… preventing dementia begins in childhood, not at retirement… countless lifestyle choices and public health measures can have a dramatic impact on our brains, and the health of individuals and societies more broadly.
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
In the stay-at-home era, why have we so sorely neglected home care?
Tuesday, June 16th, 2020
The carnage in congregate care… obliges us to rethink elder care fundamentally. A good starting point is prioritizing home care. Ontario… has a $64-billion annual health care budget, of which $3-billion goes to home care and $4.3-billion to long-term care. (Individuals supplement those costs, often paying thousands of dollars out of pocket.) There are a little less than 100,000 residents in long-term care, and more than 700,000 who get home-care services.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Seniors’ care shouldn’t be a horror show, even when the pandemic is over
Sunday, April 12th, 2020
Both B.C. and Alberta have banned health care staff from working at multiple institutions, a common practice that allows the coronavirus to spread quickly. This should be a permanent policy, not a temporary one. There is no lack of work in nursing homes and long-term care. In fact, there are dire personnel shortages. But many employers refuse to offer full-time work so they can avoid paying benefits… who wants to put their life on the line for fifteen bucks an hour, no benefits – and no PPE?
Tags: Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Shut it down: It’s time for Canada to get serious about social distancing
Thursday, March 12th, 2020
Canada needs to embrace social distancing… early implementation [of six social-distancing measures during past flu pandemics] delayed the peak in the number of infections, relieving the burden on health-care systems by spreading out the cases over a longer period of time… we can’t afford to become Italy, a country that was slow to act and is now paying a massive price, with more than 10,000 cases, 600 deaths and a collapsing economy.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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