It’s time to rethink the social contract for our rapidly changing world
Monday, February 17th, 2020
… lifetimes are getting longer but… households are saving ever less to cover their retirement years … in 2017, more than… 41 per cent did not save for retirement; 20 per cent did not save at all; and 12 per cent do not have a six-month savings buffer… the labour market is changing in a way that some are being left behind, income polarization is only growing and it appears that every generation feels they are being denied access to the economic party.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
The health-care spending law of Wildavsky and Harper
Saturday, November 3rd, 2012
Oct. 31 2012
After 10 years of average annual growth in public health spending of 7 per cent, the increase levelled off in 2011 to 3.3 per cent, and to 2.9 per cent this year, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information… And, unlike in the early 1990s, when a virtual freeze on new spending led to bed closures, layoffs and a general stasis in the system, cost control didn’t depend on program or employment cuts.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Generic drug use must be a priority
Friday, November 2nd, 2012
Nov. 01 2012
It’s estimated that, for every 1-per-cent increase in generic drug utilization in Canada, Canadians save an additional $260-million. . While Canada’s generic pharmaceutical industry supports efforts to reduce trade barriers, the EU’s drug patent demands will increase trade barriers for Canadian generic pharmaceutical exports while increasing prescription drug costs by as much as $3-billion annually.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Medicare’s front door, primary health care, needs a remodel
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Oct. 31 2012
… if I could cite just one change that would make health care more sustainable, it would be transforming the front door to the health-care system – primary health care… more attention must be paid by policy-makers to that first contact, and the early intervention, co-ordination and ongoing support that might prevent the need for acute care.
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Poverty gives way to inequality and the Great Frustration
Saturday, October 20th, 2012
Oct. 20 2012
Inequality has increased – and when that happens, economists have shown that there’s a corresponding collapse of social mobility, the ability to escape your income group for a higher one… When the rich get richer, the poor usually get poorer. But the converse isn’t true: Countries with strong redistributive systems and free economies are usually both wealthy and equal.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality History | 2 Comments »
Health-care competition: Can Britain’s experience help Canada?
Friday, October 19th, 2012
Oct. 19 2012
More patients chose – with the help of their GPs – to go to better hospitals… Hospitals in areas where patients had more choice had greater improvements in clinical quality (measured by lower death rates after admission) and greater reductions in lengths of stay than hospitals in less competitive areas… better management is associated with better outcomes in NHS hospitals and that management tends to be better when hospitals compete with each other.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
What Canada can learn from Obamacare
Friday, October 19th, 2012
Oct. 19 2012
First… addressing the contentious issue of what exactly would be covered. The solution they chose recognizes that as practices and technologies change, so does the best way of meeting a population’s health needs… Second… health benefits obtained through employment are not taxed as income. At just the federal level, Canada’s Department of Finance calculates the value of this subsidy to be more than $3-billion… The third… is delivery system reform.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Prorogation is an unnecessary abuse of Ontario Premier’s power
Thursday, October 18th, 2012
Oct. 18 2012
… the legislature has been prevented from expressing its criticism of the government and pursuing its contempt investigation… It’s not as though there were no other options than to prorogue… It is incredibly troubling that the functioning of Ontario’s democracy has been delegated to a political party’s executive.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Evidence as guide
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012
Oct. 16 2012
According to Statscan, more than 750,000 children were prevented from falling into poverty in 2010 thanks to child benefits and other programs targeted to low-income families. In Ontario, an innovative approach to child benefits was instrumental in taking 20,000 children out of poverty rolls, even as unemployment soared.
Tags: budget, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
How to improve life for at-risk children
Saturday, October 13th, 2012
Oct. 11 2012
children from poor or abusive families have more challenges in school and, as adults, have markedly worse health. Now, scientists understand why. The experiences of a child during the first 2,000 days of his or her life affect brain circuitry and impair social and mental development because genes react to the environment… By providing early learning enrichment, it is possible to reverse the impact of adverse circumstances on a child’s brain.
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, Health, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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