Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category
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End the secrecy over doctors’ billings
In a landmark ruling, John Higgins, an adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, found that the public has a right to see individual physicians’ revenues paid by the province.
He specifically ordered the release of names, specialties and the OHIP earnings of Ontario’s top 100 billers… Higgins ruled that the public should be allowed to know who such people are and what they’re charging the province for their services. He correctly found in favour of transparency and accountability.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, privatization, rights, standard of living
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Battling the scourge of nicotine addiction through packaging and other measures
When your business model involves selling an addictive product that kills more than half of long-term users, as well as a great many non-users, and sickens many of those it doesn’t kill, then ‘do the right thing’ simply does not enter the equation… Do the right thing? They never will, which is why government has an important role to regulate the tobacco industry as stringently as possible.
Tags: Health, rights, standard of living
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How mental illness complicates medically assisted dying
Bill C-14, the legislation to govern medically assisted dying, advises needing further study when mental illness is the sole criterion, leading some to charge discrimination. Such arguments are specious. The fight against stigma and discrimination includes appreciating that “equity” does not mean everything is “the same.” Equity involves impartial and fair evaluation of situations… Complex decisions without standards become value judgments or best guesses, and we should not be gambling with the vulnerable lives.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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Genetic testing bill perpetuates myths and fears
… the U.S. legislation was designed principally to ensure people were not denied health insurance for essential medical care. In Canada, we have universal health care, and there is no genetic discrimination. Only supplementary health-insurance and life-insurance coverage are at issue, areas where “discrimination” is the norm… The proposed legislation… perpetuate[s] mythology and unnecessary fears about the power of genetics, and distracts us from more real and pressing civil rights and health-related injustices.
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, privatization, rights, standard of living
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Eric Hoskins’ quiet campaign for pharmacare
The reasons Canada is nowhere close to implementing such a plan are simple: stiff opposition from private insurance companies and skittish politicians who don’t want anything to do with raising any taxes – even for a sensible and fiscally solid cause – for fear of voter backlash… To help Hoskins succeed, the public needs to become involved and tell politicians they care deeply about this issue. It will be impossible to get traction on pharmacare unless there’s a sustained public call for action.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical, privatization, standard of living, tax
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More than 500 doctors billed Ontario for more than $1 million in fees last year, health minister reveals
Thirty-six billed more than $2 million… The release intends to debunk a recent ad campaign from the … (OMA)… Hoskins says his goal is to make things more equal and better distribute the money going to certain specialists whose work has gotten easier. MRIs and CT scans used to take an hour, now they take 20 minutes. Same with cataract surgery — that’s why diagnostic radiologists and eye surgeons are so disproportionally represented on the list.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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The next court challenge: the right to better care
Last week, the government introduced legislation promising a new standard permitting qualified medical personnel to end a patient’s life in certain well-defined circumstances… The next court challenge will focus on the often unmet needs of Canadians with chronic conditions who need but are not receiving adequate palliative care, rehabilitative support and social services… in too many communities in Canada they are unavailable.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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Ontario backtracks on drug plan deductibles hike for seniors above low-income threshold
Ontario is backing down on a controversial scheme to raise public drug plan deductibles for seniors by 70 per cent to $170 for those above new low-income thresholds, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said Monday… The minister announced another new measure: indexing the income qualification thresholds to inflation, which he said will bring another 30,000 seniors a year under the protection of the low-income program.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical, poverty
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Refugee health reversal an important step toward coverage for all
After years of public pressure and the unprecedented mobilization of health care providers, as of April 1, 2016, the federal government is restoring the refugee health program which was drastically cut in 2012… Just as the denial of health-care coverage to refugee claimants was wrong, so too is the ongoing denial of health-care coverage to people… on the basis of their immigration status. It is time for a comprehensive policy solution to bring about a truly universal health-care system.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, immigration, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
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Provinces will feel the bite when it comes to health care transfers
If no deal is struck on a new health accord before next year, the shock will be brutal for debt-burdened provinces with aging populations…. the Trudeau government has promised to negotiate a new health accord with the provinces… The decision not to include more money for home care in the budget may reflect the provincial resistance to Ottawa dictating how health transfers are spent.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
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