Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Blaming diabetes on poor eating habits has delayed real action
For some of those who carry a potent genetic risk for diabetes, no amount of physical fitness or healthy eating will protect them from developing the disease. A second, less appreciated contributor to the growing diabetes epidemic is the role of the environment, specifically factors such as the walkability of neighbourhoods, food security and local access to health-related facilities and services.
Tags: disabilities, featured, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada needs a national pharmacare plan
… the architects of medicare fell short in covering the cost of medicines… People across the country pay for that failure every day through unnecessarily high prescription drug costs. They shell out an average 50 per cent more per capita than residents of other developed countries. It’s a burden that results in millions of prescriptions going unfilled, with an estimated one in 10 Canadians lacking money to buy medicine they need. They pay for medicare’s unmet promise through aggravated illness and needless suffering.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Ebola vaccine story shows folly of free-market drugs
Free-market economists believe the profit motive is the most reliable and efficient force in economic decision-making. In theory, the selfish, profit-driven actions of private businesses are supposed to benefit everyone. But in the real world, the pursuit of private profit often promotes inefficiency and the misallocation of resources. One glaring (and costly) example is the private drug industry.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, globalization, Health, ideology, mental Health, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Why Canada needs a national pharmacare program
A recently released report, A Roadmap to a Rational Pharmacare Policy in Canada, figures that such a national approach would lead to potential savings of up to $11.4-billion every year. In addition to the economic benefits, pharmacare would help ensure access to essential prescribed medications, particularly for those who are most in need and least able to pay… What better way to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017…
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | 3 Comments »
Let’s use our bodies to protect our minds from dementia
Cognitive impairment including dementia affected 747,000 Canadians aged 65 in 2011, and without immediate action this will almost double to an estimated 1.4 million by 2031… there is an intrinsic link between failing cardiovascular health and dementia. Between one- quarter and one-half of patients with heart failure also have cognitive impairment… investments now in community-based interventions and education programs… could enable a large number of Canadians to preserve brain health, delay the onset of dementia and be in overall better health
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Provinces should pressure Ottawa on pharmacare
Canada is the only developed country that offers universal health insurance but not universal prescription drug coverage. As a result, one in 10 Canadians cannot afford to fill the prescriptions their doctors write — yet Canadians spend more on pharmaceuticals than any other comparable country… Currently, there is no national standard for drug coverage in Canada. We rely on a patchwork of private and public payers working at odds with each other, and not in the interest of patients.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Drug policy seriously outdated
Canada now faces an important choice. Our government can persist in intensifying the misguided and thoroughly debunked war on drugs, including blocking evidence-based health services with ill-conceived legislation and continuing to waste taxpayers’ dollars by prosecuting and jailing people who need such services. Or we could join the growing consensus that it’s time to abandon the empty declarations of the 1990s and rethink global drug policy, and thereby actually make people and communities healthier and safer.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Prepare for the Coming Crush of Long-Term Care Patients
A multi-pronged solution to better target means-tested public subsidies and allow growth of private insurance and savings should be pursued, according to the authors. Policymakers could do so in a manner that assures LTC access for those who need it but can’t afford it. And because many Canadians today believe, somewhat falsely, that governments will pay for their future LTC costs, reforms must encourage individuals to take on greater responsibility to pay for their own future LTC.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, pensions, privatization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada needs a national dementia strategy
… investment in research is appropriate and welcomed. But it is only part of what we need to be doing to address this impending crisis… The federal government needs to be doing some things — now — like sitting down with the provinces to develop a dementia strategy that aims to give Canadians with dementia the care they deserve, at home and in their communities, while freeing up expensive acute care hospital beds to serve the patients for whom they are intended.
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada should look to Europe on health care, not the U.S.
Instead of having Canada’s health system compete with the United States for last place, we need to start addressing the real issues that plague our system. We could start by looking at the expansive policies of European systems that perform better than our own, starting with a universal health system that includes drug coverage, home care and long-term care… And we must look at providing incentives throughout our public and private sectors in the health care system to ensure that the right care is delivered to the right people in a timely way.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Recent Comments