Archive for the ‘Health Policy Context’ Category

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As doctors who work in long-term care homes and serve marginalized populations, we believe it’s well past time to end for-profit long-term care

Wednesday, December 30th, 2020

… the system is designed to protect corporations over human life. The calamity of placing profits over people needs to end… governments of all levels need to work together to bring all long-term care homes under public ownership much like other parts of our Medicare system, including hospitals and physician care… With the immense grief and suffering continuing for people living in long-term care homes today, this must be a priority.

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NDP and Greens Push Trudeau to Answer Vancouver’s Call to Decriminalize Drugs

Monday, December 28th, 2020

The MPs want Hajdu to use her authority under Section 56 of the act, which grants the health minister the power to issue an exemption from any part of the legislation “for a medical or scientific purpose or is otherwise in the public interest.” … to take the supply “out of the hands of criminals and remove the stigmatization, and ensure that people get access to safe, regulated, properly packaged products. And we need to substantially beef up our prevention, education and, most importantly, treatment options for substance users.

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We need a homegrown solution for making enough vaccines for every Canadian 

Thursday, December 3rd, 2020

… pandemic preparedness… includes, at its core, an arms-length national vaccine manufacturing facility that, first and foremost, has the capacity to produce enough vaccines for every Canadian… The facility could be made available to the private sector to make large batches at cost during normal times and commandeered by the federal government for large-scale vaccine deployment during a pandemic… It would be a partnership between biopharmaceutical companies, academia and the federal government.

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Let’s make Canada a global leader in COVID-19 treatments 

Tuesday, November 24th, 2020

Canadian-led breakthroughs in medical sciences can improve our health and well-being, bolster our universities and research hospitals, strengthen our reputation in the global competition for resources and talent, and result in economic benefits for Canadians. And, most importantly, these trials could quickly develop novel therapies for treating COVID-19 while creating the downstream benefits of infrastructure and know-how to help us discover treatments for the next pandemic as well as for other diseases.

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The Minister of Health should do the right thing and decriminalize drug possession

Tuesday, November 24th, 2020

Criminalization has never been shown to minimize drug use, nor does it advance the pursuit of care, if needed. It may trigger a series of consequences and pathways that rarely help the individual, let alone promote public interest. The most pressing needs of people who depend on substance use are not met by the criminal justice system… Criminalization should not be justified as an alternative to the shortfall in services to support people with complex requirements to restore their well-being.

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Pharmaceutical industry offers Ottawa $1-billion to scrap pending drug pricing rules, documents show

Monday, November 16th, 2020

The pharmaceutical industry has made a last-ditch $1-billion proposal to the Canadian government in hopes of fending off parts of a drug pricing crackdown set to go into effect on Jan. 1… to boost local manufacturing and commercialization, and on new programs to improve access to drugs for rare diseases… “The position of the Government of Canada remains unchanged – Canada has among the highest patented medicine prices in the world, and these high prices negatively affect the ability of patients to access new medicines”

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Medicare 2.0: Fixing Holes in our healthcare system that hurt Canadians

Sunday, October 11th, 2020

Each wave of the pandemic reignites concerns about the state of long-term care homes and renews existing calls to improve our healthcare system… This research paper urges the government to expand public health care and outlines why it is critical to do so now, during COVID-19, calling for establishing comprehensive mental health services, making long-term care part of medicare, and implementing universal pharmacare now.

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Greed fuels fight for private health care

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

Justice John Steeves ruled that Day failed to show patients rights were being violated because of long wait times, noting the law was based on equitable access to care, not on a patient’s ability to pay… If the judge had ruled in Day’s favour, it would have been a nail in the coffin for public medicare… by opening the door for insurance companies and financial institutions to make a ton of money — the very people who will financially support Day and others fighting for private health care.

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The real challenge is to expand medicare, not just save it

Sunday, September 13th, 2020

While Canadians sing the praises of public care, they actually spend close to a third of their health-care dollars in the private sector — on things like prescription drugs, dental care, vision care, physiotherapy and home care… The job now isn’t just to protect medicare as it is against efforts to chip away at it, but to extend public coverage into other areas. A comprehensive pharmacare program should top the list

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The landmark Charter challenge over private health-care wasn’t about what you thought it was

Sunday, September 13th, 2020

the heart of the plaintiffs’ argument… If governments are to impose a monopoly over the funding of health care, they have an obligation to see that it is provided in a timely fashion… User fees and private insurance may not be the answer to wait times, but it is not impossible that the system could be reformed in such a way as to make more efficient use of resources, without harm to the principle of universal public funding.

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