Be careful, Canada — lessons from the Irish healthcare system

 Be careful what you wish for, Canada. One way or the other, Canadian courts are about to take some key decisions about the role of private financing and practice in your healthcare system; the on-going Cambie trial in British Columbia is just the latest attempt to overturn fundamental components of

The need for innovation in public health care

 By Dr. Melanie Bechard and Dr. Ali Damji On November 18, 2019, the Supreme Court of British Columbia will begin to hear closing arguments in a case that will decide the future of Canada’s health care system. In 2016, the for-profit Cambie Surgeries Corporation launched a constitutional challenge against B.C.’s

National Pharmacare Makes Sense, So Why Don’t We Have It?

 Every developed country in the world with universal healthcare also provides universal coverage of prescription drugs. Well, except Canada. A national public drug plan, or Pharmacare as it’s more commonly called, has been in the works since the 1960s, when the Royal Commission on Health Services recommended its introduction following

Health Reform in Ontario Must Include Oral Health

 A healthy mouth is part of a healthy life. The Ontario government’s proposed reform of the provincial health care system is going forward with a glaring omission: primary mouth care. To make this reform truly "Patients First," Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long Term Care, must include primary

Canadians Should Modernize not Privatize Medicare

 National Medicare Week has just passed, buoyed with optimism as a fresh-faced government takes the reins in Ottawa – elected partly on a promise of renewed federal leadership on health care.  Yet these “sunny ways” are overcast by recent developments at the provincial level that entrench and legitimize two-tier care. Saskatchewan

We Need Federal Leadership on Pharmaceutical Drug Coverage

 More than 300 health academics and health professional sign letter to Prime Minister Trudeau on the need for federal leadership on pharmaceutical drug coverage (Toronto and Vancouver) -- Every developed country with a universal healthcare system provides universal coverage of prescription drugs…except Canada. The problems associated with Canada's incomplete patchwork

Dear Health Minister Philpott — We Need Leadership In Medicare Restored

 Dear Minister Philpott, It is fantastic news that as a family doctor you are our next federal health minister.  You will know very well that our healthcare system shows its age.  Born in the middle of the 20th century, its primary focus on doctors and hospitals is outmoded as technology

Why the Federal Government Needs to Keep its Promise to End Income-Splitting

 Children’s Health More About Good Social Policy than Medicine Alone. More of Canada’s children are living in poverty than ever before. A new report reveals that child poverty rates in Canada remain unconscionably high. Almost one-third of children in Toronto live in low-income households. Population measures of child health in Canada are also troubling,

Current Patchwork of Funding Policies for Children’s Medicine in Canada Needs Critical Attention

 You are the parent of a sick child.  You have a limited budget and you must decide to buy the medicine the doctor prescribed for your child or provide food and shelter for your family instead.  What do you do? Sadly this dilemma is one too many Canadians are facing.

Are we finally in a health election campaign?

 Why more affordable medications for Canadians should be an all-party priority in this federal election. It's become almost a matter of faith: health and health care are perennially among the top priorities for Canadians, but are nearly invisible in election platforms and debates. This observation has led health care providers, health care

Why Medical Tourism is Not the Answer

 Medical tourism is not a ‘cash cow’ but a ‘many-headed Hydra’ So it looks like the ‘magic bullet’ solution has been found at last to cure Canada’s health care woes: medical tourism.  Last week, Toronto’s Sunnybrook hospital defended its position to court affluent medical patients from other countries who can

Why our Health System Works for Canada

 The Future of Medicare Depends on our Ability to Change In the past 18 months I have required two major, but unrelated surgeries, experiencing first hand Ontario’s version of Medicare. The two interventions necessitated down-time and an enforced idleness for reflection on life and what it means to be Canadian.

David Dodge on Why Health Care Costs So Much

 by Trudy Lieberman We know that the U.S. has the most expensive health care in the world. But beyond noting that dubious achievement, we seldom ask why. On my recent visit to Canada as a Fulbright scholar, I stopped by to pose that question to one of their leading health

Accreditation improves the quality of Health Care: Collaborating on Quality

 By Wendy Nicklin Discussions about health care often feel like a stalled conversation; they frequently focus on lagging wait times, meeting the needs of an aging population, and working with limited resources. With these and so many other challenges, it is not always evident to the public that within health

Who’s Responsible for the Health of Canada’s Health Care System

 “Our health outcomes, with a few exceptions, are among the best in the world and a strong majority of Canadians who use the system are highly satisfied with the quality and standard of care they receive. Medicare has consistently delivered affordable, timely, accessible and high-quality care to the overwhelming majority

Publisher’s Message

 Numerous Canadian public policy academics, public health experts and writers, including André Picard and Jeffrey Simpson at The Globe and Mail, claim that Canada’s health-care system is lagging behind other western countries. As Picard noted in a column last spring in The Globe and Mail entitled Dragging Medicare into the