Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category
Mark Carney says he’ll make pharmacare deals with provinces, but won’t commit to expanding their coverage
Friday, September 12th, 2025
… “Ottawa has been dealing with a spate of new priorities since the beginning of the year, and [Dr. Eric Hoskins] understands why Carney is taking an “incremental” approach… the last thing anyone would have wanted is to create an even more patchwork program of diabetic medications and contraception, where you’ve got a handful of provinces and territories that have it, and others that don’t.”
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, women
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Public health care is a vital domestic industry and it’s beyond Trump’s reach. Strengthening it should be a priority
Thursday, August 7th, 2025
… the broader health-care sector is Canada’s biggest single industry — employing three million Canadians, adding $200 billion a year to our GDP… business and conservative commentators promote the fallacy that only industries producing exportable goods — like oil, mining and auto manufacturing — actually create wealth. The business crowd tends to portray our public health care and education systems as little more than costly drains on our public resources. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, privatization
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Five examples of how hubris in public health could lead to repeated mistakes
Thursday, July 3rd, 2025
Here are five examples: … The pandemic isn’t over when hospitalizations have temporarily slowed… Long COVID’s effects have been downplayed despite life-altering and long-lasting health effects… Ignoring uncomfortable truths is not a public health strategy… Public health should never be weaponized by political agendas… A transparent, national inquiry is essential to maintaining trust in public health.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
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Ontario government aims to fast-track cancer drugs in new pilot project
Sunday, May 18th, 2025
During the election, Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged that, if elected, his government would “significantly reduce wait times for life-saving medications… Canadian patients wait too long for public access to medicines following Health Canada approval, putting us behind other G7 countries” and promised to cut red tape without compromising safety. The Ontario pilot will include “select high priority cancer drugs” that are approved and part of Project Orbis, an international effort to co-ordinate efforts between countries to get medications approved and fast-tracked out to patients.
Tags: Health
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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
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Don’t have private insurance? You’re still paying for others who do — you deserve better care
Saturday, November 23rd, 2024
Health care in Canada is universal for only two things, doctors and hospitals. For everything else, from psychology to prescription drugs, care depends on your private insurance or ability to pay… public subsidization occurs through an income tax exemption. Specifically, on an employer’s contribution to private health insurance premiums… What if instead, $4 billion of public subsidies to private insurance were used to support universal pharmacare, beyond diabetes and contraceptive care?
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, tax
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Is paying out-of-pocket for medically necessary care allowed? Doctors and nurses say patients need to know now
Wednesday, November 20th, 2024
… Canada has seen a rise of for-profit medical care in which patients pay out-of-pocket to access primary care through private clinics, virtual platforms or nurse practitioners, who are not covered by provincial health plans… the Canada Health Act’s silence regarding non-physician health-care providers creates a loophole “that certain health-care providers and their clinics are taking advantage of, knowing there is no legal consequence or risk of getting shut down.”
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, privatization
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Why it is urgent that Ontario share health data with Ottawa
Sunday, October 27th, 2024
… every province and territory closely guard their residents’ health from the federal public health agency to varying degrees, but what’s done in the name of protecting individual privacy comes at the cost of blinding the Public Health Agency of Canada to a fuller understanding of the health of Canadians… Timely and accurate data inform sound public health policies. Their absence does the opposite, including leaving risk management to the most vulnerable.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, rights
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Canada’s getting national pharmacare. Here’s what it means for you
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024
With the Liberal government’s pharmacare plan enacted earlier this month, the government only needs to sign individual deals with the provinces to realize widespread access to diabetes medication, like insulin, and a broad array of contraceptives… “informal” talks have already been ongoing… Ottawa can sign deals with all provinces by next spring… Ontario’s government, however, is still mulling over the fine print of the program.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical
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6.5 million Canadians lack a family doctor. The solution is already here
Tuesday, October 15th, 2024
In a report released this month, [three of Canada’s senators] suggest the following: accelerate a pathway for the many internationally trained doctors who are currently unable to practise in Canada…. Hundreds of ITPs currently compete for each residency spot available to them, a situation which is clearly untenable… Practice Ready Assessment[s] consist[s] of a 3-month assessment of a doctor’s competency to practise, assessed by licensed doctors in Canada while they see patients, usually in a rural or remote setting.
Tags: Health, immigration, jurisdiction
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