Canada has more doctors than ever — but access is worse. Why is that?
Thursday, November 2nd, 2023
Governments may fund primary health care, but they don’t make the work rules. Those are made mainly by doctors. Medicare still makes sense. Public payment reduces administrative costs while eliminating financial barriers. But because of Medicare’s policy legacies, even doubling the number of doctors would not provide the access we deserve. We need to change the way physicians do their work.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | 2 Comments »
This is the model for long-term care we need and deserve
Friday, May 8th, 2020
… all organizations need adequately paid and trained staff to accomplish their mission… Another prerequisite is non-profit personal care… we want to minimize the incentives for underservicing… There are two major strategies for LTC reform. The first is a different LTC institution. The second is to move LTC to the community… the Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly… PACE provides all needed health services at home 24/7… let’s save billions of dollars in bricks and mortar with a Canadian version PACE.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »
De-listing medical services is wrong diagnosis, wrong prescription for health-care system
Wednesday, August 28th, 2019
The real diagnosis is that physicians’ services are often wasted because our system isn’t built on need. Rather, it’s based on insurance. OHIP pays a lot per hour for episodic care and low value follow-ups. It still pays poorly for working in a small team and being accessible today for people who need you. Furthermore, there is little quality assurance by doctors to ensure that clinical decisions are justified.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Fate of Ontario Drug Benefit could define federal election
Friday, January 11th, 2019
Premier Doug Ford is… likely to gut the Ontario Drug Benefit seniors’ program. How the federal Liberals and NDP respond to this challenge will define their parties’ visions for the country and determine the election results… Ford inherited a $6-plus billion deficit and he’s blown that up with tax reductions and lost law suits… Cutting the ODB seniors’ program and implementing a Quebec or Manitoba-style plan could save $2 billion in one fell swoop.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canadians are ready for an adult conversation on Medicare
Monday, October 15th, 2012
October 14, 2012
… the good news is medicare doesn’t need much if any new money or for-profit care. Many examples across the country demonstrate we could almost eliminate waits for doctors and other services through process improvement and system redesign… Best practices across Canada demonstrate that we could see our family doctors within one day, see specialists within one week, and get elective surgery within three months. And we could get this much better care for little or no additional cost.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Health and wealth [income & taxation]
Sunday, April 15th, 2012
Apr. 14, 2012
Hospitals would voluntarily adopt an evidence-based framework to guide boards’ decisions about CEO base compensation… An arbitrary policy that would damage the leadership of these important public institutions is in nobody’s interest. – vs – Ontario’s highest personal income tax bracket (46 per cent) has not been this low since the Great Depression. This rate starts at $132,000, so it’s a flat tax for the rich. Billionaires pay the same rate as doctors. Conversely, the budget freezes social assistance rates – despite these payments’ buying 60 per cent less than in 1995… It’s time for high-earning Canadians to pay our fair share. Tax us. Canada is worth it.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The health-care sky is not falling !
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Nov 11 2011
Health care increased its share of the public pie from 1997 to 2008 largely because government cut the size of the pie by axing other programs. The feds eliminated the National Housing Program in 1993 and Ontario social assistance recipients have seen their inflation-adjusted incomes fall by 40 per cent since 1995. These policy debacles have made a lot of people sick and applied pressure to hospitals and other health-care organizations.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Medicare has a very good month
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
Nov 09 2010
Last year, health spending shot up to 11.9 per cent of the country’s economy mainly because the economy fell apart not because spending particularly increased. Still, the data generated concern and resulted in panic stories about the end of medicare’s sustainability. However, with a tighter hand on the cash, this year per-capita health costs grew by only 1.4 per cent after controlling for inflation. Public sector costs grew even more slowly. With a recovering economy, health costs slid to 11.7 per cent of GDP this year and will almost certainly continue to fall for the next two to three years.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
How to heal health delivery [local health integration]
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Aug 23 2010
At least some of the criticism of the LHINs is legitimate. However, all health systems in all jurisdictions have some regional approaches to planning… Here’s some advice to the government as it reviews the LHINs and the governance of Ontario’s health-care system: Start with form following function. Some services, like cardiac care, cancer and emergency services need top-down command and control. Some services, like care of the frail elderly and health promotion, beg for freewheeling bottom-up, democratic, non-profit entrepreneurship.
Tags: Health, participation
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Canada playing in wrong health league
Sunday, July 4th, 2010
Jul 04 2010
The U.S.-based Commonwealth Fund released their latest comparison of seven health systems on June 25… Canada was second last. We were last for overall quality, effective care and timeliness of access. We scored second last on efficiency… The main determinant of overall health-care system performance is the quality of primary health care. Unfortunately, Canada’s system of family doctors and a few community health centres just isn’t built to carry the load that it must if Canada is to beat anyone but the U.S. in the health-care Olympics.
Tags: featured, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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