Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Budget 2023 overlooks Canada’s “dirty little secret” about federal health funding
Wednesday, May 24th, 2023
It’s a “dirty little secret” that the health care money sent to the provinces and territories under the Canada Health Transfer does not actually have to be spent on health care… Speaking on behalf of the Canadian Health Coalition, I urged MPs to take action to rein in health care privatization by the provinces, and to ensure that the promised Canada Pharmacare Act is a public, universal program that covers everyone.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
What the end of the Cambie legal saga means for public health care
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
The principles of the Canada Health Act remain intact. However, many provinces and corporate interests have recalibrated their strategy to undermine public health care. Alberta, Ontario and Quebec are entrenching for-profit interests by outsourcing surgeries to investor-owned facilities. This undermines hospital staffing and ability to provide timely care. Some for-profit clinics have engaged in unlawful extra-billing, entrenching two-tier health care.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Preventive health care: Why privately funded programs are reluctant to fund it
Monday, May 8th, 2023
Within a publicly funded care model, there is a vested interest to mandate and fund preventative health measures as government payers are accountable for sustainable health care budgets. Recognizing that early prevention can reduce costs down the road, governments are more willing to pay for screening services for patients at risk… the ability to predict the individual risk of patients using artificial intelligence is incredibly exciting in the health care space.
Tags: Health, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Eyes on Ontario after BC slams door on for-profit plasma collection
Wednesday, April 26th, 2023
Supporters of Canada’s safe, voluntary blood system are concerned that paying plasma donors, as Grifols does, could undermine essential voluntary blood donations and take advantage of economically disadvantaged people.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Surgeries cost up to 150 per cent more in private clinics: Quebec study
Tuesday, April 25th, 2023
“. . .in 2019-2020, the cost of a carpal tunnel surgery averaged $908 in the private sector compared to $495 in the public sector; a short colonoscopy cost $739 in the private sector compared to $290 in a public institution,” said Anne Plourde, researcher, Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS), about the Institute’s findings on the costs of surgeries and other procedures performed in the private sector in Quebec…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
New rules to shield private clinics from public scrutiny
Thursday, April 6th, 2023
Ontario already has private clinics. But the government is greatly expanding them in number and function and carving out a whole new zone within our health care system where they’ll be allowed to operate with far less public accountability, scrutiny and oversight than is currently required of private clinics… Bill 60 imposes no financial disclosure requirements on the director, who will have sweeping powers over the awarding of lucrative clinic licences.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Cruel health care cut targets the most vulnerable
Friday, March 31st, 2023
… The reason someone is uninsured is often tied to their immigration status and can include those on temporary work or study permits and people who are “undocumented” or without authorized immigration status… To have taken the axe to a small program supporting some of the most vulnerable people in Ontario said a lot about the Ford government, none of it good.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
A long-term plan for long-term care
Tuesday, March 14th, 2023
… it’s time for a new plan, one that a number of other countries have already adopted: a Canada Long-Term Care Insurance Plan, to provide a guaranteed quality of life for the elderly who are frail… long-term care insurance promotes better care, and ultimately saves the government money, by increasing the years people are able to live in their homes in older age and reducing the time spent in nursing homes and hospitals.
Tags: disabilities, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, Seniors, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada is failing to meet the moment on the cost of medication
Saturday, March 11th, 2023
They have threatened repeatedly that these reforms will halt the entrance of new drugs into the Canadian market and… will hamper “the country’s ability to attract investment to our life-sciences sector.”… threats like this are only rhetoric, not reality. Britain, Sweden and France have all achieved lower drug prices while maintaining higher rates of research and development than Canada.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Justin Trudeau vows to defend Canada Health Act, not revisit it
Wednesday, March 1st, 2023
… amid growing concern about health-care companies finding creative ways around the constraints of the law. Justin Trudeau said Monday he won’t hesitate to claw back money from provinces that violate the Canada Health Act… the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health addressed those concerns, saying legislation the Ford government has introduced will require extra charges… be made public, and ensuring each centre has a process for receiving and responding to patient complaints.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »