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Don’t be scared into supporting privatized health care
Monday, September 12th, 2022
The privatization options will not begin to address the problems of a demoralized and depleted health care workforce and the overzealous constraints on public health care spending and will have negative consequences for both equity and efficiency. Debating private care options is a wasteful distraction.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Liberals to announce plan to double GST tax credit, launch youth dental care and top up housing benefits, NDP sources say
Thursday, September 8th, 2022
The New Democrats say they have inked an agreement with the Liberals… that would double the GST tax credit for a period of six months. About 12 million Canadians could be eligible… Both parties also reached consensus on a plan that could see low-income youth under 12 receive a cheque for dental services by the end of the year. The plan is intended to be a temporary solution until a permanent dental care plan can be implemented by the end of 2023 and extended to those under 18, seniors and people living with a disability.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, housing, ideology, Seniors, standard of living, tax, youth
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada to implement 988 suicide crisis line starting in fall 2023
Wednesday, August 31st, 2022
starting at the end of November 2023, Canadians will be able to call 988 to be connected to a mental health crisis or suicide prevention service, free of charge. The Public Health Agency of Canada will decide which group will provide the service, along with the scope of care it will offer. The move will bring Canada in line with the United States, which launched its 988 service last month.
Tags: budget, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario’s health-care system isn’t candy store to be plundered
Thursday, August 25th, 2022
With our health-care system reeling, Ford is charging ahead with further privatization — Ontario health care is already 40 per cent private — and selling this as a way to save the system through “innovation.” … The system’s problems have been thoroughly studied by countless commissions and the solutions do not involve privatization… Ontario has lots of unused hospital operating rooms, idled after years of cutbacks.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canadians deserve high-quality care, but non-profit hiring crisis is standing in the way
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022
Community based non-profits are not given the funds to provide salaries on par with municipalities, schools boards and hospitals… significant wage disparity has meant a mass exodus of non-profit workers. As a result, quality of care for our loved ones is compromised as staff turnover interrupts programs and leaves gaps in staffing, disrupting critical relationships and care systems.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Reforming our approach to drugs
Sunday, August 21st, 2022
… while study after study confirms that criminalization has no effect on drug usage rates, it has created a vast transnational network of organized crime… the federal government’s expert task force last year recommended an end to our century-long experiment with prohibition. As its “core priority,” the force recommended Canada “immediately develop and implement a single public health framework with specific regulations for all psychoactive substances, including currently illegal drugs as well as alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis.”
Tags: crime prevention, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario is going to lean on private health facilities. Here’s what that could mean for our system
Saturday, August 20th, 2022
“What happens when you inject private money into the health-care system, there is a short term boost in capital … but that doesn’t last very long, and the costs will go up… systems with higher rates of private financing are negatively associated with universality, equity, accessibility and quality of care, as has previously been found in international literature reviews”
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Doug Ford hasn’t revealed a plan to dismantle public health care — or one to fix it
Saturday, August 20th, 2022
It’s too easy to get bogged down on jurisdictional and ideological debates. Federal transfer payments are a chimera, just as privatization is a panacea if not done judiciously… Medicare never proscribed the private delivery of services — whether by doctors, pharmacies or clinics — it merely prescribed the public accessibility of medically necessary services without extra billing. Rather than fixate over privatization, let’s focus on innovation.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario extending $10/day child-care opt-in deadline to get more operators to apply
Thursday, August 18th, 2022
Just a few weeks ahead of September, uptake varies widely across municipalities, with some — particularly smaller areas — seeing all or nearly all operators apply, while other regions are seeing less than half of operators applying so far… In Toronto, the largest region, 587 out of a total of 1,042 licensed child-care centres have applied to opt in — and 32 have opted out — though the percentage of for-profit operators that have applied is much lower than the non-profits.
Tags: child care, jurisdiction, participation, privatization
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Provinces need to have a plan for health-care funding — or they shouldn’t get the money
Monday, August 15th, 2022
Provinces want $28 billion more from the feds for health care… Yes, health care needs more funding. But negotiations need to focus on producing better results. Our premiers need to do more than just acquire more money — they need to govern our public resources, and show us their plans for using an infusion of federal dollars so we can buy change. No plan? No money.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »