Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Ontario, federal government reach agreement in principle on health care

Thursday, February 23rd, 2023

… the province accepted the 10-year deal on Wednesday after the two sides agreed to add reviews into the deal to ensure long-term sustainability… The priority areas outlined in the deal include mental health, primary care and increasing the number of health-care workers… Duclos said the province’s bilateral agreement would include working toward certain health indicators, agreeing to provide “equity of access’’ for underserved groups and upholding the Canada Health Act…

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Meet the Canadian-born doctors who can’t work in Canada

Thursday, February 16th, 2023

With Canada experiencing such an acute shortage of doctors… the roadblocks thrown up by provinces and regulatory bodies are puzzling. “The country should be grateful that these Canadians are willing to come back and be completely overworked and underpaid… And you didn’t even have to pay to educate them.”

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In health care it is not privatization to fear, it’s profitization

Thursday, February 16th, 2023

Despite the evidence, Ford has permitted more for-profits in long-term care, home care, acute care, primary care, and child care. It is not impossible to reverse the corporatization of profits in health care, but trade rules, contracts and other corporate protections can make it difficult and expensive… We don’t need an action plan for corporate profit and control, using public money. We need to improve the public system.

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