Archive for the ‘Health Debates’ Category
Pharmacare is now law in Canada, but negotiations with provinces could slow progress
Monday, March 24th, 2025
Pharmacare could have been implemented nationally, like it was for the Canadian Dental Care Plan, offering federal coverage for essential medications like contraceptives and diabetes medications, while insurers and provincial plans cover the rest. This would have been a simple approach that would have allowed for future changes, and could have been implemented by provinces much like vaccines are — paid for using people’s provincial health numbers, sidestepping the difficulty of enrolling people in a new plan.
Tags: Health, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Why Canadian-trained doctors should be allowed to practise anywhere in Canada without additional licensing
Monday, March 17th, 2025
Why, then, are doctors with identical training and qualifications confined to practising in just one province or territory? … Despite national standards for training and qualification, the power to grant a licence rests with 13 separate provincial and territorial regulatory colleges. This fragmented system creates artificial barriers, limiting the mobility of our highly skilled physicians across Canada.
Tags: Education, Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Health care advocates need to keep up the pressure on Mark Carney
Thursday, March 13th, 2025
… on March 9, Carney said, “In America, health care is a big business. In Canada, it’s a right.” He did not say it is universal and public. When he mentioned pharmacare and dental care he tagged it with “for those who need it.” That sounds just like a fill-in-the-gaps program, and not a universal program. Big Pharma’s key demand is that eligibility be restricted to “those who need it” and exclude those who have private plans… It’s clear that Big Pharma… is plotting how the program can be modified.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, rights
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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 »
We must confront the reality that Canada has a four-tier health care system
Tuesday, January 28th, 2025
The key question is whether… market-driven alternatives for personal health care can be thoughtfully integrated with the public system, augmenting services while assuring no one is left without access to all aspects of care, including acute, chronic, and preventive. At present, we’re not looking at solutions that reconcile both perspectives.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Massive tobacco settlement at risk of being misused
Tuesday, December 10th, 2024
The settlement provides financial restitution to class-action claimants and allocates funds to a vaguely defined research foundation. But where are the funds for front-line solutions? … To ensure [meaningful change], provinces must direct funds toward lung health programs, tax all nicotine products, close gaps in vaping regulation, and institute ongoing cost-recovery fees… ensuring that the funds are allocated where they’re needed most: to education, prevention, and treatment programs that advance lung health.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Five controversial lessons to cure health care from Jane Philpott
Wednesday, December 4th, 2024
Her goal in writing Health for All is to ensure “every person living in Canada has access to a primary care home, in the same way that every child has access to a public school.” But she acknowledges that it will require a transformation that challenges current thinking, practices and interests… 1. The federal government has a role in public health care, despite complaints from the provinces… 3. Phase out fee-for-service payments and put doctors on salary…
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
The Nurse Practitioner Answer to the Primary Care Crisis
Sunday, October 27th, 2024
Another factor [to explain Canadians’ seemingly sudden disenchantment with their healthcare system]may be the reluctance of provincial governments to undertake major institutional reforms. Since the 1990s, when serious budget deficits necessitated action, most provinces have been reluctant to provoke opposition from powerful interest groups, in particular physicians’ associations… As a result of this opposition, some NPs are underemployed in rural and remote communities or underutilized in urban hospitals…
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »
Province Appoints Dr. Jane Philpott as Chair of New Primary Care Action Team
Thursday, October 24th, 2024
Dr. Philpott will oversee… the connection of every Ontarian with primary care services within the next five years… with input from other primary health care leaders across the province, she will provide and implement an action plan ensuring the Minister of Health can further expand team-based primary health care across the province… This plan will ensure better service on weekends and after-hours, reducing the significant administrative burden on family doctors and other primary care professionals and improving connections to specialists and digital tools.
Tags: featured, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ford’s bungling of Ontario’s nursing shortage is aimed at undermining public health care
Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
… staff shortages and long wait-lists in Ontario are problems that were greatly exacerbated by Ford’s mishandling of the nursing crisis. Could it be that the dissatisfaction with our health-care system may be best solved — not by introducing a lot of private, profit-making clinics — but simply by paying nurses good wages within the public system?
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments