Andre Picard « Authors « Social Policy in Ontario

Provinces brace for health-care transfer-payment showdown with Ottawa

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Nov. 08, 2010
Provincial officials worry about the signals from Prime Minister Stephen Harper: his government appears in no hurry to confront the competing pressures of rising budgets and an aging population that could further accelerate costs. So far, the only public statement on the prospects for a new health-funding deal is a suggestion from the Finance Minister of applying the brakes to spending increases… “This is not a debate about transfers to the provinces,” Mr. Duncan said in an interview. “This is a debate about the future of universal health care.”

Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »

We don’t need Grandpa Prisons, we need a dementia strategy

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Oct. 13, 2010
Joe McLeod, Alzheimer’s patient, suddenly became Joe McLeod, wife beater. And this is where the story truly turns Kafkaesque. Joe McLeod didn’t get help. He spent more than a month in jail (the medical unit of the Winnipeg Remand Centre, to be more precise). He suffered a lot, scared and confused. That’s because his wife, the person who cared for him around the clock, was forbidden from seeing him because she was considered a victim of domestic violence.

Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, mental Health
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »

‘Alarming’ rise in dementia comes with a crippling price tag

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Sep. 23, 2010
If countries rich and poor hope to attenuate the coming financial and social crisis, they need to develop sweeping policies that bring relief to caregivers, rejig health systems to respond to debilitating brain disease, and invest in research to find a cure… ill increase at an “alarming rate” for at least 40 more years unless firm action is taken… we must work to improve care and support services… Both the Canadian and the international reports make similar recommendations.

Tags: mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »

Bell pledges $50-million for mental health charities

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Sep. 21, 2010
… the company’s new mental health program will focus its investments in four areas: – combating stigma; – bolstering community care and access; – improving the workplace for those suffering from mental illness; – investing in brain research. Mr. Cope recited a litany of statistics, including the fact that one in five Canadians will suffer from a mental illness during their lifetime and that fewer that one-third of sufferers get prompt treatment.

Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »

Why Canada needs a national strategy on dementia

Saturday, September 18th, 2010

Sep. 18, 2010
Bigger than cancer, bigger than heart disease or lung disease – for seniors, dementia is the single greatest cause of disability and debilitation. Its cruel course robs people of what they treasure most: memories, skills, relationships, independence. And then the body starts to wither and waste… Dementia affects 20 per cent of seniors by the age of 80, and well over 40 per cent by 90. Already, that’s 500,000 Canadians, and one new person joins them every five minutes. In a generation, the total will be 1.1 million… Canada’s health and welfare systems are woefully unprepared for a coming crisis.

Tags: disabilities, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »

Universal pharmacare touted as way to save billions

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Sep. 13, 2010
Creating a national pharmacare program could slash more than $10.7-billion off Canada’s $25-billion-a-year drug bill, according to a new study that dismisses out-of-hand the notion that a public drug plan is unaffordable. “Canadians cannot afford not to have universal pharmacare,” said Marc-André Gagnon… Canada’s jumbled assortment of public and private plans and wildly varying drug policies across jurisdictions is inefficient, costly and inequitable. But, above all, it says Canada pays too much for drugs – between 16 and 40 per cent more than other industrialized countries…

Tags: budget, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »

Ontario’s mental-health system needs to be fixed now

Saturday, September 4th, 2010

Sep. 02, 2010
Most people suffering from mental illness live in the community, but getting appropriate care in the real world is dizzyingly complex. They need housing as much as medication and they need income as much as counselling, but our social welfare system operates in silos. Mental-health and addiction services are funded or provided by 10 different provincial ministries. Community care is delivered by 440 children’s mental-health agencies, 330 adult mental-health agencies, 150 substance-abuse treatment groups and 50 problem-gambling centres. There are many well-meaning programs, but there is no co-ordination and little collaboration.

Tags: crime prevention, featured, mental Health, rights
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »

Universal health care matters, but so does quality

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Jul. 14, 2010
The study, entitled Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, compares the performance of health systems in seven Western countries… Canada ranked a pathetic sixth out of seven… The overall message here is that universality is important – all the countries in the study have universal health care, except the United States – but how you deliver care is equally important.

Tags: Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »

Ottawa should come to its census: Stop dogging Statscan

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

July 8, 2010
The data Statscan collects are invaluable to government, business, charities and, ultimately, every single Canadian. The information and the analysis the agency provides are the bedrock on which sound public policies – social, economic and fiscal – are built. So why is the federal government undermining the ability of Statistics Canada to collect data?… this is occurring, strangely, in the midst of a recession and while economic and social policies are changing markedly: It’s as if our political leaders do not want to know the impact on their constituents, as if they think that political spin is an adequate substitute for sound statistical analysis.

Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »

We need more primary care, not more physicians

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Jun. 30, 2010
… it’s concerning that 15 per cent of the population does not have a regular primary care provider… B.C. is going to ensure “everyone has a family doctor” by improving access to nurse practitioners, nurses, dieticians and other specialized health professionals. Many jurisdictions are taking this approach – care delivered by multidisciplinary teams. It’s a laudable, effective, cost-efficient approach, and it’s long overdue. The strategy is particularly useful for patients with chronic illnesses, or multiple chronic illnesses, who need regular monitoring and follow-up care.