Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category
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High drug prices in Canada are just one side of a bad equation
Tuesday, July 18th, 2023
To ensure that Canadians receive similar benefits from the pharmaceutical industry as other countries, we need oversight of both sides of the equation: drug prices (… fully protected from political influence), and follow-up to ensure any government programs intended to offer investment incentives for the pharmaceutical industry in the Canadian economy achieve their goals.
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Pharmacare could save over $1600/year per patient and promote ‘pharmoequity’ finds study
Thursday, June 1st, 2023
Providing free medicine to patients reduces costs to the health care system and contributes to overall health equity, researchers learned… “I was surprised by the magnitude of the savings,” Dr. Nav Persaud… told CBC. “It seems like eliminating medication costs both saves money in avoided hospitalizations, avoided emergency room visits, makes people healthier and addresses health inequities — it makes access to health more fair.”
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
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Time to end violations of Canada Health Act with illegal fees for service
Sunday, May 28th, 2023
…Bill 60… expressly enables the transfer of surgeries and diagnostics from public hospitals to for-profit clinics… We categorically do not need private clinics to cut surgical wait times. Virtually every public hospital has operating rooms that are closed evenings, overnight and on weekends. They should be funded and staffed to open to full capacity to clear backlogs.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, rights
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Better Health Depends on Better Health Data
Friday, May 26th, 2023
… governments should adopt the guiding principle that patients’ entire records should be available, not just to health providers, but to the patients themselves. Not only is this consistent with Supreme Court decisions and the principles of good ethics, but there is growing evidence it improves participation and trust in the system.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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