Albertans Must Get Inventive in Healthcare as Price of Oil Slides Further

 As world oil prices and the Canadian dollar slide perilously, Albertans must become more inventive and rigorous in managing our costs – and our expectations – especially in high-cost areas like infrastructure, education and health care. Health care is the biggest challenge. We cannot turn off the population’s health care

The New Health Accord could be Trudeau’s Most Significant Achievement

 Photo by Jean-Marc Carisse. Health Ministers Must Spend Smarter and Negotiate Wiser. This week the country’s 14 health ministers have been gathering in Vancouver for a pan-Canadian summit to begin negotiating a new Health Accord. The previous accord saw $41 billion transferred to the provinces over the last decade. This

Toward a True Health Accord

 This week Canada's Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Philpott, will meet with her provincial and territorial counterparts in Vancouver. This is no ordinary get-together. In his letter to the Minister, Prime Minister Trudeau tasked Philpott with "engaging provinces and territories in the development of a new, multi-year Health Accord with long-term funding

Dear Health Minister – Please Reinstate Funding for Cochrane Canada

 Cochrane is a key global healthcare resource that needs Canada’s involvement Imagine you’re our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Despite a grueling election campaign, you’re flush with energy and idealism in a country where “better is always possible.” One key priority is improving Canada’s prosperity but there are also many

Health Systems Around the World

 By Kathleen O’Grady Comparing the performance of health systems around the world just got a little easier. One morning, the media headline pronounces Canada’s health system should model that found in the Netherlands; the next week, we should follow Germany’s example, and yet another says Australia is leading the pack.

Saskatoon’s housing crisis is a health emergency

 Recently, a disturbing photo of five people sleeping in a Saskatoon bank lobby became headline news and filled social media feeds. An earlier photo had contrasted the lush yards on the east side of the riverbank with tents in the bushes on the west side. A few days later, homelessness

What I didn’t learn in medical school

 Sometimes doctors can’t fix what makes their patients sick in the first place. I began medical school optimistic about what becoming a physician meant I could do for my future patients. Naively, I presumed my career would involve treating patients’ illnesses so they could return to lead full and fulfilling

Do Canadians Spend Too Much on Taxes?

 Here’s why that’s the wrong question “There are lies, damned lies and statistics” is the well-worn phrase, but nothing better sums up the recent Fraser Institute scare mongering about taxes being the single largest budget item of Canadian households.  “Your family’s largest expense may surprise you,” the ideological-driven think tank

Why We Need to Think Twice About Adopting an Australian Model of Pension Reform

 In a recent nation-wide commentary, authors Charles Lammam and Stephen Kirchner of the Fraser Institute urge the Province of Ontario to adopt an Australian model of pension provision instead of expanding the Canada Pension Plan as proposed in the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. This creates an interesting debate as it

Arrested for Sleeping?

 The struggle to occupy public space. As humans, we need to sleep. It is biologically unavoidable. Yet, on both sides of the border, sleeping can be considered a criminal act, especially if you are homeless and have no place to rest your head other than in public spaces such as

Can Wait Times for Hip Replacements in Canada be Shortened?

 Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.  I spent my life teaching actuarial science at a university. As a result, I calculated lots of numbers:  averages, expected values, variances. But, they were only numbers. What I didn’t see was the individual human story behind each calculation. But now that I am the

It Shouldn’t Matter Where You Go To School, But For Kids With Diabetes, It Does

 Provinces, school districts need to adopt comprehensive diabetes policies now Summer is a time to put thoughts of school aside, but some families are already worrying about September.  For parents of kids with diabetes, the beginning of each new school year brings not only the usual preparations, but also fears

Provincial Health Ministers Right to Push for National Pharmacare Program–But What Kind?

 Quebec’s outdated drug coverage policies should not be model for rest of Canada In spite of very high expenditures for drug coverage, one in 10 Canadians cannot afford to fill their prescriptions. The current patchwork of public and private plans across the country means that Canadians are covered for their

Canadians Care About Healthcare—So Why Don’t We See More Health Policy Coverage in the News?

 For the last 30 years or so, Canadians have repeatedly flagged healthcare as the most important national concern and the issue they want their political leaders to prioritize. Surveys and studies and polls and panels—there have been plenty—all come up with the same finding: Canadians care about healthcare. That doesn’t mean

Is it Fair to Make a Public Appeal for a Live Organ Donor?

 The public response to the appeal on behalf of Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators hockey team, for a liver donor has been a heart-warming demonstration of the generosity of our community. Fortunately, a donor was found and the transplant was performed in time to save his life. But

The Other Drug Problem in Canada’s Cities

 How Canada’s piecemeal pharmaceutical drug insurance coverage costs Canadian cities—and taxpayers—plenty Canada's cities face a number of problems: traffic, housing, crime, infrastructure—the list goes on. Prescription drugs are one of these problems—one that is costing local governments as much as $500 million every year. How so? Municipalities, like most employers,

Learning to Walk

 What will the lasting legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission be? As Cree youngsters in the north, we are taught the tradition of how to walk on the land and in the bush – with each foot fall carefully and quietly placed so as not to disturb the food

Canada has Mixed Wait Time Results in Health Care

 We need governments to promote best practices across the country and improve patient outcomes Wait times have long been a source of concern for Canadians, and in some jurisdictions, remain a significant problem. Recently the Canadian Institutes of Health Information (CIHI) released its report for 2015. There is both encouraging

Is it Fair to Make a Public Appeal for a Live Organ Donor?

 The public response to the appeal on behalf of Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators hockey team, for a liver donor has been a heart-warming demonstration of the generosity of our community. Fortunately, a donor was found and the transplant was performed in time to save his life. But

Double-Failing on Health

 Why it is critical we learn from past healthcare mistakes Forty is the new thirty. Orange is the new black. And Failure is the new success. It seems these days that no success story is complete without a failure (or two) along the way: the bankruptcy that gave birth to

Drug Treatment for Female Sexuality not about Equality but Profits

 We have come a long way, baby. Eighty-five years ago, on October 18, 1929, women were declared "persons" in Canada. Women in Canada became eligible to be appointed to the Canadian Senate, which up to that time, had been the sole dominion of men because women were not deemed ‘persons’

Are We Medicalizing Healthy People?

 Why the over-treatment of risk factors for heart attacks and strokes may do more harm than good Modern medical practice is engaged in a battle, not for hearts and minds, but for the conversion of perfectly healthy people into patients, labelled “at high risk” of various diseases in the name

Dying Badly in Canada

 Canadians now have a right to medically hastened death, but no right to quality palliative care A few days after the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the prohibition against doctor-assisted suicide, I received a note from a wonderful colleague of mine saying that her closest friend’s 53 year old son

Does Canada Have Enough Money to Fund Senior Care?

 Will the cost of senior care in Canada one day break the bank?  Probably not, contrary to common perceptions. Four health policy experts, Dr. Robyn Tamblyn, Dr. Ivy Bourgeault , Dr. Neena Chappell and Dr Michel Grignon explain why money is not the biggest issue when talking about senior care

Five things every Canadian should know about obesity

 By Carolyn Shimmin There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Canadians living with obesity over the past few decades and it is often cited as a risk factor for other chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer. This means