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Make pharmacare a priority in the federal election
Tuesday, July 9th, 2019
The upcoming election debate on this issue should address key implementation issues including: Identifying the goalposts and the mechanism for achieving the desired outcome. The role of the federal government, subnational governments and the private sector. Who pays for the incremental costs and how will it be financed. The mechanism to get buy-ins from all subnational governments. A universal system only works if all subnational governments participate in it.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Jim Stanford on Uber and the future of precarious work: ‘It isn’t inevitable’
Monday, July 8th, 2019
… we should be continuing to invest in skills and the knowledge infrastructure… But we also need to be actively nurturing the jobs that people with those skills can most productively do… They only came to Canada because smart policy interventions brought them to Canada. We hustled for them, and we put in place rules. We said to a company like Boeing, for example, ‘you want to sell a bunch of extremely expensive aircraft to Air Canada? Well, you’re going to have to produce something in Canada.’
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Employment Insurance isn’t working for everyone
Sunday, July 7th, 2019
… working-age adults don’t need income support for as long as they can remain active in the labour force. If that was ever true, it is increasingly not the case… Recognizing the changing nature of the labour market, and ensuring systems are in place to support those who do that work is key to building a more inclusive and resilient economy where all workers and their families are protected against hardship. We can’t predict the future of work, but we can prepare for it.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Indigenous health care needs won’t be served by Ford government’s plan
Saturday, July 6th, 2019
… by centralizing health care decisions, the Ontario government is… returning to a top-down approach where health-care needs are decided by the few for the many… The new agency threatens to derail nearly three years of negotiations between Ontario, the federal government and Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) concerning turning over decision-making power about health care to 49 northern nations so they can bring health-care services closer to home… Suicide, diabetes, addiction and food insecurity must be tackled by Indigenous people for Indigenous people.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario health quality will suffer under the Peoples Health Act
Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019
The board of Ontario Health seems to think that only front-line workers are needed to provide health care and the back-office staff responsible for measuring and comparing quality as well as holding clinical programs accountable for high quality results can be disposed of. It is naïve to think that busy clinicians can both provide care and do the data collection and analysis that quality improvement requires without back office support.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Hoping the new attorney general does the right thing
Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019
Today we are in the midst of writing a new chapter in the history of legal aid in Ontario — a system that has served as a much-emulated model of the world, with the legal clinics having played a central role of its success. A system that is now under attack, with deliberate misinformation about its lack of efficiency as the justification for its obliteration.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Cuts to legal aid mean worse health for vulnerable people
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
Many of my patients have legal needs that require expert intervention to maintain their social and medical stability… for issues ranging from family discord to accessing disability supports… Neighbourhood legal clinics… are now facing crippling funding cuts… When people are denied the ability to advocate for their legal rights, they are left with high levels of stress, in worse poverty, and in increasingly vulnerable situations. This leaves them in poorer health and puts a higher demand on the health system.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Time for Ontario to make drug company payments public
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
When pharmaceutical companies dole out millions of dollars to doctors, hospitals, universities and others working in the public health care system, it should be done in a public way to maintain trust that it’s all above board. And not just for 10 big drug companies, but all of them. Ontario has already passed legislation to make that happen — if only the Doug Ford government would enact the regulations to bring it into force…
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Low-wage workers have less access to EI benefits than higher earners, report says
Friday, June 28th, 2019
Low-wage workers are largely employed in retail, accommodation and food services, which are characterized by a high rate of part-time work and shorter tenures. This can mean they can’t get enough hours to qualify for benefits… “They’re being individually penalized for labour market conditions that are way beyond their control.” This makes it harder for many people working low-wage jobs to qualify not only for EI but also for other work-related income supports
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Transparency on what doctors bill OHIP informs the health-care debate
Friday, June 28th, 2019
The public benefit that comes from greater transparency around OHIP billings is clear. It will help to inform the debate about how Ontario spends its health care dollars and whether the current payment structure overvalues some medical services at the expense of others… Are we achieving the best health care outcomes for the dollars we spend? Is there a better way? … Opening up the system to public scrutiny can only help to build a stronger health-care system for patients and doctors alike.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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