Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

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Three lessons Canada can learn from Australia’s health-care system

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025

First, expanding access and improving health outcomes can happen without massive increases in public spending… Second, more private-sector involvement in health care is not a cure-all… Third, minimizing administrative burdens will foster a more efficient and effective health-care system… Canada’s federal government should take the lead in co-ordinating and funding comparative analyses of the two countries’ health-care systems…

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The evidence is clear: National pharmacare for contraception can’t wait

Friday, October 17th, 2025

If Canada’s pre-existing mix of public and private insurance provided sufficient access to contraception, we would have seen little or no change when contraception became free in B.C. But… Our research showed a 49 per cent increase in the use of the most effective contraceptive methods when they were available at no cost.

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As the family doctor and nursing shortage gets worse, here is an innovative solution that will help

Thursday, September 25th, 2025

The province’s use of electronic health records remains far behind its potential… Health-care shortages could kick‑start a revolution in patient care and give patients real‑time access to the medical services they need and the ability to arrange them with a few clicks. It would free family doctors to do the work only we can do… No Ontarian should have to risk missing a cancer diagnosis, waiting months for a vaccine or spending hours in an ER because the system is stuck in the past.

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Health advocates call on Liberals to keep pharmacare promise ahead of budget

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025

Health Minister Marjorie Michel and Carney’s office declined to commit to signing more pharmacare deals over the summer, and promised only to protect what was in place… The law requires the national drug agency to develop a list of essential drugs for a national formulary and to work on a national bulk-purchasing strategy to bring prices down.

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Ford government announces new deal with doctors — with pay boost and incentives to take on more patients in family medicine

Monday, September 22nd, 2025

The Ford government has reached a new deal with Ontario’s doctors, announcing on Thursday a four-year agreement that boosts compensation for physicians and includes measures that will encourage more to practise comprehensive family medicine. The agreement… will see physicians get a 7.3 per cent increase in compensation over the next three years. This builds on a 10 per cent increase that doctors received in the first year of the agreement, awarded by an arbitrator last year.     

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Targeted Pharmacare Reforms Could Deliver Access Without a $40 Billion Price Tag

Thursday, September 18th, 2025

With 97 percent of Canadians already having access to some form of drug coverage, a new Conference Report by the C.D. Howe Institute finds that a fiscally responsible approach to universal pharmacare should focus on closing gaps in prescription drug coverage rather than replacing plans with a single-payer system.

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Mark Carney says he’ll make pharmacare deals with provinces, but won’t commit to expanding their coverage

Friday, September 12th, 2025

… “Ottawa has been dealing with a spate of new priorities since the beginning of the year, and [Dr. Eric Hoskins] understands why Carney is taking an “incremental” approach… the last thing anyone would have wanted is to create an even more patchwork program of diabetic medications and contraception, where you’ve got a handful of provinces and territories that have it, and others that don’t.”

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Public health care is a vital domestic industry and it’s beyond Trump’s reach. Strengthening it should be a priority

Thursday, August 7th, 2025

… the broader health-care sector is Canada’s biggest single industry — employing three million Canadians, adding $200 billion a year to our GDP… business and conservative commentators promote the fallacy that only industries producing exportable goods — like oil, mining and auto manufacturing — actually create wealth. The business crowd tends to portray our public health care and education systems as little more than costly drains on our public resources.  Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

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Thousands of Ontario family doctors to get new compensation deal

Wednesday, August 6th, 2025

The updated model — called FHO+ — recognizes that practising comprehensive family medicine has changed in recent years, with administrative tasks taking up more of a doctor’s time. It will allow doctors to bill for clinical and administrative tasks, such as such as charting, reviewing test results and filling out forms… the FHO+ model opens additional spaces for doctors to join family health organizations. Both the OMA and the government say this will increase access to comprehensive primary care.

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Five examples of how hubris in public health could lead to repeated mistakes

Thursday, July 3rd, 2025

Here are five examples: … The pandemic isn’t over when hospitalizations have temporarily slowed… Long COVID’s effects have been downplayed despite life-altering and long-lasting health effects… Ignoring uncomfortable truths is not a public health strategy… Public health should never be weaponized by political agendas… A transparent, national inquiry is essential to maintaining trust in public health.

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