Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category
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Health-care funding: How Harper views the Canadian federation
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Dec. 23, 2011
There have been some improvements in some areas; in others, not so much. The Martin accord bought peace, but it didn’t buy nearly enough innovation in health care. The federal approach announced this week finally recognizes that the levers of change for the health-care system reside in 13 provincial and territorial capitals, just like it says in the Constitution.
Tags: Health, ideology, rights
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Ottawa’s health plan: When money misses the point
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Dec. 22, 2011
The provinces and territories have five years to figure out how to make health care sustainable on their own terms… After that, the Harper Government will contribute less, tying federal contributions to the growth in the economy, with a floor of 3 per cent… By 2017, when the deal ends, the annual transfer will have grown to $36-billion… it pales in comparison with the more than $220-billion dedicated to tax cuts since 2006, or the 20-year, $490-billion commitment to refurbishing military hardware… The $26-billion over five years could buy important reforms if it’s harnessed to that purpose…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
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Ottawa’s offer and the provinces’ health challenge
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Dec. 21, 2011
When people rightly ask: Why didn’t all that federal money indexed at 6 per cent bring about more change?, part of the answer lies right there. Federal transfers indexed at 6 per cent don’t provide any new resources for a system with 7-per-cent yearly spending increases… The biggest challenge all governments will face is to bring health-care spending down to the growth in the economy, something none of them have done. That challenge will be even tougher because the Canadian economy will not grow as fast in the next decade as it did in the past one, and the population is aging.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
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6 per cent solution for better health care
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Dec 21 2011
Here are three ways to spend that $1.6 billion next year that could lever increased efficiency and equity. • Lower costs through economies of scale… (on) pharmaceuticals… bulk buying, and collectively save ourselves billions. • Bend the cost curve by improving health… Take oral health (where) evidence is showing the linkages between poor oral health and higher incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia and Alzheimer’s… • Allocate resources strategically. The biggest challenge to our system is the rise of chronic diseases. We really haven’t tackled the integration of care between our hospitals and our communities.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, standard of living
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Shrewd tactics not the same as good health policy
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Dec. 20, 2011
… the deal offered by Mr. Harper’s government is reasonable. It is fiscally responsible, tying spending increases to inflation… [but] federal funds be used to exercise leadership and foster innovation (or to “buy change”… there are areas, such as catastrophic drug coverage and homecare, where there are gross regional disparities… Federal dollars should be used to level the playing field, to ensure there is a semblance of a national medicare program. That should be a goal even for a government that, philosophically, believes in decentralization, as the current one does.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
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Health-care talks aren’t just about money, Saskatchewan Premier says
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Dec. 13, 2011
Mr. Wall… doesn’t want to make upcoming negotiations all about money, percentages and escalator clauses. Rather, the Premier believes Canadians want the provinces to have a “discussion around results and better health care.” … his province is successfully using private clinics to help reduce wait times for certain surgeries. They operate under the Canada Health Act but allow patients to have certain day surgeries outside of a hospital… Given the choice between timely surgery and having to wait, Mr. Wall said, people will choose surgery over ideology.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
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Ottawa and provinces should be thinking big
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Dec. 14, 2011
… social determinants of health, predictors of the outcomes around illness and the related stresses, help fill our hospitals and increase the strains on health care. A majority of those who live beneath the poverty line do have jobs, often more than one, but still do not earn enough to make ends meet. If our health-care system is to be one where flexibility, access, appropriate care and financial sustainability are real assets in the service of Canadians, it is vital that any new formula for health-care financing take the social determinants of health into account.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
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Canada’s never-ending medicare fight
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Nov 29 2011
… two-tier medicine… simply shifts costs. Private-pay medicine may save governments money. But it provides no net savings to citizens who end up paying out of pocket for the same or worse health care… the Quebec government spends less in proportional terms on health care [but] it spends more in absolute terms on everything else… other countries have two-tier systems. But they don’t necessarily do any better. The Germans, Dutch and French, all of whom are praised by two-tier fans, spend more of their gross domestic product on health care than we do.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, privatization
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Canada could take health-care lessons from Europe, Australia: study
Monday, November 28th, 2011
Nov 28, 2011
There seems little evidence that allowing a purely private tier of health care would do much to contain costs or improve service, but a lot could be done short of that… Canada learn from the several European countries that ensure universality, but allow people to buy health insurance… to cover all or part of their care… such a system encourages patients and doctors to better manage their health… the country should move from a culture where patients are told what treatment they can or cannot have, to one where they direct their own care
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, privatization, standard of living
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The dangerous myths about medicare
Friday, November 25th, 2011
Nov 25 2011
two pervasive health-care myths need be cleared up… First, medicare isn’t about to be bankrupted by the elderly… other things – such as wages paid doctors and overall population growth – are far more important in determining health-care costs. Second, medicare costs in general aren’t spinning out of control…. governments cut back health-care spending growth severely during the recession of the early 1990s, then… reversed themselves later on. As a result, provincial government health spending did accelerate. But by 2003 the growth rate had levelled off. In the last two years, it has slightly declined.
Tags: budget, Health
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