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Heather Farrow

A broad coalition against austerity in Newfoundland | rabble.ca - 0 views

rabble.ca/...against-austerity-newfoundland

nl budget coalition cuts

shared by Heather Farrow on 26 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • By Scott Neigh | August 24, 2016
  • On this week's episode of Talking Radical Radio, Scott Neigh speaks with Mary Shortall, Jim Dinn, and Sara Langer. They are all members of Common Front NL, a broad coalition that has formed to oppose the drastic austerity measures being implemented by the provincial government in Newfoundland and Labrador. According to today's guests, there isn't a lot of precedent, at least in recent decades, for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador rising up in significant numbers to oppose the policies of their provincial government. But late last year, a provincial Conservative government that had been in power for many years was decisively defeated, and a large Liberal majority swept into office. Though their platform did not call for cuts and privatization -- that is, for austerity -- the introduction of their first budget in the context of a major economic downturn made decisive moves in that direction, with the possibility of even more drastic cuts in a second budget slated for late in 2016. The cut that made the news most widely outside of Newfoundland would've resulted in the closure of many, many public libraries, and that has (at least for the moment) been rescinded, but as today's guests discuss, the vast majority of cuts are still happening, and people's lives are being impacted in a wide range of ways.
Heather Farrow

Groundswell 2016: Toward a Healthy Economy for People and the Planet | The Council of C... - 0 views

canadians.org/conference

conference nl coc cuts

shared by Heather Farrow on 17 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Join us in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, October 14-16, 2016
  • Maude Barlow, Avi Lewis, José Bové, Elizabeth Penashue, Greg Malone
  • Government cutbacks, climate change and economic inequality – these are some of the challenges we face in a world where corporations have more power than people. Can we find a new way forward? Can we work together to build a fair economy – one that produces renewable energy, protects water and provides good jobs for us all? Can we build a vibrant democracy, strengthen our public health care system, and achieve justice for Indigenous peoples? Can we create the Canada we want?j
Heather Farrow

Pharmacare won't come soon: minister; Warns CMA meeting in Vancouver that indigenous he... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|vasn|20160824|254542102

pharmacare

shared by Heather Farrow on 24 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Vancouver Sun Wed Aug 24 2016
  • "Most seniors prefer care in the comfort of their home and not in hospitals." Doctors of B.C. president Dr. Alan Ruddiman told Philpott that the "harsh reality" is that certain provinces like B.C. are struggling to meet the health-care needs of aging populations, so the CMA is advocating in favour of federal demographic-based "top ups." But Philpott wouldn't reveal where negotiations will go on that point and said there are 14 health ministers, including herself, who have to hammer out an agreement.
  • "National pharmacare, you know if you've seen my mandate letter (from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau), does have to do with the cost of drugs and there's impressive work we can do in the next few years to drive down costs," she said. Philpott suggested the government will, for now, focus on bulk buying, price regulations and negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, rather than a full program covering the costs of drugs for those who can't afford them. While Philpott, a doctor, said she "gets" how a pharmacare program would be beneficial, but there are other problems like "horrendous and unacceptable gaps in care for indigenous people and we need frank conversation about where our priorities should be."
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Philpott said one of the misconceptions about the future of health care is that demographics - a silver tsunami related to an aging population - is going to bankrupt government coffers. While she acknowledged that seven per cent of $1,000-a-day hospital beds are taken up by seniors and 14 per cent of beds are occupied by patients who should be in alternate levels of care, Philpott threw cold water on the "doom and gloom" forecasts that an aging population means "massive infusions of cash" are needed to sustain public health care. Sticking to the federal government's commitment to inject another $3 million over four years into home care, she noted it's not only cost effective but preferred by patients and their families.
  • Federal health minister Jane Philpott said Tuesday a national pharmacare program is likely years away because of more pressing priorities like primary care, improved health for indigenous people, better care for those with mental illness, and more home care for seniors. "I do not want to promise anything I don't know I can deliver on," she told about 600 delegates and observers at the annual Canadian Medical Association meeting in Vancouver.
  • The reality is I don't know how this is going to end up. A lot of this will come down to basic principles of fairness." While Canada spends more per capita than many other countries, Philpott said she's concerned about international rating systems that show Canada gets poorer outcomes compared to countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. During a press scrum, a journalist noted that all those other countries have parallel public/private systems. But Philpott insisted the federal government is only interested in how those other countries deliver care within the publicly funded realm. "Our government is firmly committed to upholding the Canada Health Act. That act has principles around accessibility and universality and it means Canadians have access to care based on need, not on ability to pay," she said. "You cannot have a growing, thriving middle class unless you have a publicly funded universal health care system."
  • Philpott attempted to dissuade doctors of the notion that the federal role is merely to transfer money to the provinces ($36 billion this year), maintaining that the government and "this minister of health" is determined to be engaged in health system transformation. The provinces have begun the slow process of negotiations with the federal government on a renewal of the Canada Health Accord to be signed sometime next year. But some health ministers have complained that the feds have given no indication about how much money they can expect. It's been more than a decade since the provinces and the federal government negotiated transfer payments and Philpott said that while the last round led to improvements like shorter waiting times in some surgical areas, "it did not buy change. So we should use this opportunity to trigger innovation."
  • Philpott said real change will incorporate digital health records and the banishment of anachronisms like fax machines. Patients should be seamlessly connected, in real time, to their health care providers, hospital, home care, pharmacy and lab. "What is it going to take to get there? Pragmatism, persistence and partnership. Changes require courage and practicality." Doctors gave her enthusiastic applause for stating that low socioeconomic status represents one of the greatest barriers to good health and "that is why this government believes that the economy and jobs and a stronger middle class will reduce social inequity." She said in 2016, the federal government has earmarked $8.4 billion in spending on social and economic conditions for indigenous communities. Earlier Tuesday, on the second day of the three-day annual meeting, doctors passed numerous motions that will now go to their board for further discussion before becoming official policy.
  • Delegates passed a motion introduced by Ontario doctor Stephen Singh of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians that aims to distinguish between palliative care ("neither to hasten or postpone death") and medical assistance in dying. Most palliative care doctors don't want to serve as gatekeepers to doctor-assisted dying, but they do want to consult with patients who have life-limiting illnesses in order to help mitigate their suffering.
healthcare88

Intervenors decry Charter challenge of medicare - 0 views

www.cmaj.ca/...E371

day privatization bc

shared by healthcare88 on 18 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • CMAJ October 18, 2016 vol. 188 no. 15 First published September 19, 2016, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5330
  • News Intervenors decry Charter challenge of medicare Steve Mertl + Author Affiliations Vancouver, BC Sanctioning doctors to practise in both public and private health care, and bill above the medicare fee schedule would lead to an inequitable, profit-driven system, warns a promedicare coalition opposing a Charter challenge of British Columbia laws.
  • Cambie Surgeries Corp., which operates private clinics, and co-plaintiffs, launched the case against the BC government and its Medicare Protection Act. “(T)he Coalition Intervenors are here to advocate for all of those British Columbians who rely on the public system, and whose right to equitable access to health care without regard to financial means or ability to pay — the very object of the legislation being attacked — would be undermined if the plaintiffs were to succeed,” lawyer Alison Latimer said in her written opening submitted Sept. 14 to the BC Supreme Court.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The intervenor coalition includes Canadian Doctors for Medicare, Friends of BC Medicare, Glyn Townson, who has AIDS, Thomas McGregor, who has muscular dystrophy, and family physicians Dr. Duncan Etches and Dr. Robert Woollard, both professors at the University of British Columbia. A second intervenor group representing four patients also warned that the Charter challenge would lead to an inequitable health system across Canada. “This case is indeed about the future of the public health care system, in its ideal and actual forms,” said the group’s lawyer Marjorie Brown, according to a report in The Globe and Mail. Cambie and its co-plaintiffs, who made their opening argument last week, say the BC law barring extra billing, so-called dual or blended practices and the use of private insurance for publicly covered services violates Sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
  • A successful Charter challenge in BC would mean an inequitable health system, where those who can pay get priority service, states an intervenor coalition.
  • Moreover, they claim the prohibitions exacerbate the under-funded public system’s problems, especially waiting lists for various treatments and surgeries. Allowing a “hybrid” system would relieve the strain. The coalition brief, echoing the BC government’s lengthy opening argument, said there’s no evidence that creating a two-tier system would reduce wait times. But there is a risk of hollowing out the public system as resources migrate to the more lucrative private alternative. Those who couldn’t afford private insurance could still find themselves waiting for treatment, thus undermining the principles of universality and equity spelled out in the Canada Health Act, Latimer said in her submission. Latimer also questioned whether the legislation falls within the scope of the Charter, more often invoked to overturn criminal laws, not those with socio-economic objectives.
  • “This legislation is intended to protect the right to life and security of the person of all British Columbians, including the vulnerable and silent rights-holders whose equal access to quality health care depends upon the challenged protections,” Latimer stated. There’s also a risk of sapping the public system of not only doctors but nurses, lab technicians, administrators and others drawn to the more lucrative private market, the brief said. Dual practices could also foster “cream-skimming,” where private clinics handle simpler but profitable procedures, leaving complex cases to the public system. The British Columbia Anesthesiologists’ Society, intervening to support the challenge, will be making arguments later in the trial, which is due to last at least until February 2017. The federal government is expected to begin making arguments in several months.
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