As the premiers' conference on health care gets underway, it's critical that the public interest is heard.
medicare
Charest's budget attack on Medicare
In its budget last week, the Charest government mounted an attack on the principle of universal access to healthcare: it wants to charges citizens for visits to hospitals. At the time they file income tax, someone with cancer, going for weekly treatments in Quebec would be dinged $25 for each visit. Over a 30-week period they would run up charges of $750, plus the annual fee.
The Canada Health Act embodies an idea. Healthcare should be available to all those who are sick and in need, not just to those who can pay for it.
On the outside looking in: Indigenous peoples excluded from premiers' health talks
| January 18, 2012Activity Based Funding won't solve waitlists and overcrowding in hospitals: study
Vancouver -- As Canada's premiers meet in Victoria to discuss different approaches to health system reform, a new study raises serious concerns about "Activity Based Funding" (ABF), a new funding model that pays hospitals based on the number of surgeries they perform.
ABF has been introduced in B.C. and is being considered in Alberta, Quebec and Ontario. However, research evidence from the U.S., U.K. and Europe shows that ABF's narrow focus on increasing "activity" in one part of the health-care system does not address the system-level changes needed to control health-care costs and improve patient care.
Harper's abandonment of federal responsibility in health care
OTTAWA -- There is a deficit of political leadership in health care, especially at the federal level. Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated in a year-end interview recently that he had no idea how to secure the future of health care in Canada. Instead, he said it is up to the provinces to find "solutions."
Harper's recent unilateral, non-negotiable decision on the future of federal health financing stunned provinces. It seems the federal government intends to limit its role to signing blank cheques with no strings attached and no accountability. If rumours on the Hill are true, once the current arrangement expires Harper may replace cash transfers entirely with tax credits.
As premiers prepare to meet in Victoria, civil society comes together to protect public health care
Protection of our public health-care system always ranks as Canadians' number one concern. It reflects deep Canadian values of fairness and accessibility in the provision of basic services that we all need.
I hear all the time from people who are very worried about what the Conservative government is up to when it comes to health care.
This week, Victoria will host the premiers' conference on health care. But their meeting has already been undermined by the federal Finance Minister's unilateral declaration on future federal funding for health care, when the current Health Accord runs out in 2014.
.jpg "Jesse McLaren is a physician, activist and blogger, who like Virchow believes that if medicine is to accomplish its great task, it must intervene in political and social life. He blogs at yourheartsontheleft.blogspot.com, and tweets @HeartsOnTheLeft.")
Medicare
On July 1, 1962, North America's first universal, publicly administered Medical Care Insurance Plan was established in Saskatchewan.
http://issuu.com/nextyearcountry/docs/sfl_pamphlet.all
http://medicare50years.blogspot.com/2011/07/first-fight-for-medicare-sfl...
