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New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal Mon Oct 5 2015

ST. STEPHEN * A citizens' committee organized the meeting at the Garcelon Civic Center in St. Stephen to deal with the provincial government's plan to shut down provincial courts in St. Stephen and Grand Manan, and concerns about the future of the Charlotte County Hospital. Committee members said that 278 people attended. "I believe that small communities such as St. Stephen will become satellites of Saint John and be diminished. I believe that key services, such as key community services in health and education, should be safeguarded, and I believe that people are more important than provincial balance sheets," Victor Morford, spokesman for the Committee to save Lawrence Station School, said from the floor microphone. Saint Andrews lawyer David Bartlett spoke on behalf of the Charlotte County Barristers Society seeking to save the two courts. Finance Minister Roger Melanson announced in his budget speech on March 31 that courts in St. Stephen, Grand Manan and Sussex were no longer critical to the administration of justice with the new Saint John Law Courts open. He also announced that Grand Falls provincial court would close.

"We still risk closure of the operating room," Backman said. Surgery supports the emergency room and critical care unit, he said, likening it to a row of dominoes. The hospital had 101 beds and 334 staff in 1986 compared to 44 beds and 210 staff today, Backman said. The erosion started in 1987 when the government disbanded the local board and placed the hospital under a regional structure, he said. Backman said that the lack of "hospitalists" at the Charlotte County Hospital forces some patients to go to Saint John. A hospitalist is a medical doctor who looks after patients in hospitals. Without these specialists, a family physician has to look after his or her own patients once they are admitted, putting the doctor on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said.

Jun 18, 2015

Over the years, provincial auditors across the country have questioned the financial rationale for using public-private partnerships (P3s) to build public infrastructure. Provincial auditors, or auditors general, are independent officers of legislative assemblies who audit government finances to ensure that public monies are spent in a proper and accountable manner. Few P3s have been reviewed by provincial auditors. But when they do examine them, provincial auditors find that P3s cost more than traditional public projects, use questionable methodology, lack accountability and do not transfer risk to the private sector.

The Globe and Mail Wed Jun 24 2015

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake needs to call an independent inquiry into the firing of eight ministry workers because the ongoing scandal has undermined the public's confidence in the safety of prescription medications, the fired workers say.

Speaking in a collective voice for the first time since they were fired in 2012, seven of the employees - along with the sister of a fired researcher who killed himself - said the mass dismissal interrupted their independent research to ensure quality in prescription drugs, a program they say has saved taxpayers millions of dollars annually.

The Canadian Press | Story: 115902 - May 26, 2014

MONTREAL - A new study says Quebec will be able to keep most of its current social system as long as it reforms its health-care network and achieves a balanced budget as quickly as possible. The study was conducted for the Institut du Quebec and was headed by former provincial finance minister Raymond Bachand. Its release today comes about one week before the tabling of the new Liberal government's first budget. The study predicts Quebec's structural deficit could find itself at an insupportable level by 2035 because of an aging population.

DEC. 17, 2014

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Calling it the biggest disappointment of his career, Gov. Peter Shumlin said Wednesday he was abandoning plans to make Vermont the first state in the country with a universal, publicly funded health care system.

"The bottom line is that, as we completed the financing modeling in the last several days, it became clear that the risk of economic shock is too high at this time to offer a plan I can responsibly support for passage in the Legislature," the governor said.

by cmacmillan on December 8, 2014

Raisa Deber, PhD Professor Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

What is the best way to pay for health care? As a professor of health policy, I am frequently asked to comment on proposals to change how health care is financed. The rationale varies, as do the goals. Extend coverage? Control costs? Encourage appropriate utilization? I frequently resorted to the policy analyst’s creed – “one size does not fit all”. Yet it seemed that it might be helpful to clarify what sizes the tailor might need to serve.

Steven G. Morgan, Jamie R. Daw and Michael R. Law Provinces should provide full and universal pharmacare December 3, 2014

Medications prescribed outside a hospital setting are not covered by Canada’s medicare system. They are financed through a patchwork of private and public drug insurance plans that only provide coverage for select populations, leaving many Canadians with little or no coverage. Up until the late 1990s, people 65 and older received universal, almost first-dollar public drug coverage in most provinces. But with population aging, the public liability associated with age entitlements has become a major concern for governments. Four provinces have discontinued their age-based programs, which covered most of the cost of medications for seniors, and -replaced them with income-based programs, which protect all residents against catastrophic drug costs. Other provinces have started to move or are considering moving in this direction.

WebinarNovember 6, 2014 Le gouvernement a renoncé à l’idée de créer une assurance-autonomie pour financer les soins à domicile des personnes en perte d’autonomie. Alors qu’il s’engage dans une vague de compressions budgétaires, devrait-il attribuer un plus grand rôle au tiers secteur et au secteur privé tout en comptant davantage sur les familles pour assurer les soins aux aînés ? À la suite de la publication de l’étude de l’IRPP La responsabilité des soins aux aînés au Québec : du secteur public au privé de Jean-Pierre Lavoie (avec la collaboration de Nancy Guberman et de Patrik Marier), nous avons réuni un panel pour discuter de cette question.

Hamilton Spectator Fri Dec 12 2014

"Try to think of a word more hated than "taxes"! Right! Let's lay our cards on the table and say we are talking taxes. Politicians promise lower taxes and, therefore, more disposable income if we vote for them. They turn "taxes" into a hated word. The promise of lowering them is like luring a bear to a honey pot because many of the electorate believe they will be better off financially. This is a myth. One has only to note all the "extras" for which you would fork out on a daily basis - that is, if you are fortunate enough to have the income. It's been said "taxes are what one pays for a civilized society."

And we are civilized, aren't we? Taxes pay for all the services we expect to receive in a first-world country: health care, social workers, schools, libraries, bridges, roads, clean drinking water and sanitation, parks, food and building inspectors - and more. If these necessities are not being delivered it's likely taxes are being misappropriated or are insufficient - or maybe both. It's clear we have allowed ourselves to be bamboozled by politicians who promise that if we vote for whoever is electioneering, we shall have halcyon shopping days using the extra money that otherwise would have been lifted from us in taxes. The word "bamboozled" is used advisedly. Take our hospitals. In the 21st century, in Canada, are these institutions meeting the needs of all Canadians, no matter the income? The answer is no. This is not to say that there are not many patients who feel they have received good care. But we are talking about "all Canadians" and not only those who have spun the wheel and been lucky. There are so many horror stories in the media concerning mistakes made and neglect of patients that you feel sorry for conscientious staff from all hospital departments who may feel their efforts are not appreciated. These employees go to work each day and do their best, despite being overworked and stressed.

Toronto Star Thu Dec 11 2014

Ontario's Liberal government has an almost pathological desire to involve the private sector in public business. When awarding contracts for new power plants, it has favoured private electricity firms over publicly-owned Ontario Power Generation. It insists that large-scale public construction projects, such as hospitals, be handled by private firms paid from the public purse. It is anxious to contract out the delivery of public medicare services to private clinics. For a while, it even privatized regulation, giving industry groups the authority to charge consumers fees for handling electronic and other kinds of waste.

In one notorious case, the Liberal government established an arm's-length public agency called ORNGE to run the province's air ambulance service. Then, inexplicably, it allowed this agency to set up a web of privately owned, profit-making subsidiaries. Finally, someone has blown the whistle. On Tuesday, provincial auditor general Bonnie Lysyk zeroed in on just one element of the pathology - the government's overweening urge to have private-sector firms design, fund, construct and manage public projects. The government refers to these as alternative financing and procurement schemes. It says they save taxpayers money.

Government's own report full of concerns about public-private partnerships. By Keith Reynolds, 8 Jan 2015, TheTyee.ca

Premier Christy Clark: her government's December report on how Partnerships BC decides to construct deals raises concerns of bias, conflict of interest and dubious decision making.

The B.C. Finance Ministry has produced a report much more critical of Partnerships B.C. and its activities around public-private partnerships (P3s) than might have been expected by a province so committed to the practice. It raises issues of conflict of interest, dubious practices and questionable assumptions in the multi-billion dollar program. The story has received virtually no media coverage. While it is likely the province will continue to push P3s with undiminished enthusiasm for large projects, the report and surrounding documents acknowledge many of the criticisms of P3s raised by other groups including both the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the B.C. Construction Association. [Among critical analyses published by The Tyee since 2004 are these here, here, here and here -- ed.]

By John Cartwright | January 9, 2015

The Harper government is now in its tenth year ruling Canada. Under Stephen Harper every aspect of politics has been adjusted to serve the Conservative Party and the key sections of capital that it answers to -- oil and gas, mining, agribusiness and finance.

Challenge the Conservatives' narrative of economic stewardship. The fact is that 80 per cent of new jobs are part-time, and income inequality is growing faster than in any other OECD nation.

January 18, 2015

In early 2014 the Harper government expected a $6.4 billion budget surplus in 2015-16. And so, with the October 19, 2015 election on the horizon, the Conservatives implemented income-splitting this past fall. That came with a price tag of about $3 billion or more a year. The Toronto Star has reported, "Under this measure, [a] couple could lower combined income taxes by shifting up to $50,000 of taxable income to the spouse in the lower income tax bracket. [Critics say] the bulk of the benefits would go to high-income earners while most Canadians would benefit not at all. Even former finance minister Jim Flaherty questioned its fairness. [The NDP says] income-splitting provisions would do nothing for single parents or parents with similar incomes. [And a study by the right-wing] C.D. Howe Institute concluded that 80 per cent of families would see no benefits from income-splitting."

The North Bay Nugget Wed Jan 21 2015

Mental health patients are finding themselves caught in a revolving door. That was a primary concern raised during a media conference Tuesday at the Canadian Union of Public Employees office on Lakeshore Drive. Mike Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, said there are few community resources and services in place for people coping with mental illness. Hospitals close mental health beds saying the patients will be cared for in the community where they live. But this is not true. Those programs that should be in place never materialize," he said.

Earlier this month, North Bay Regional Health Centre announced the closure of eight mental health beds and the elimination of 75 positions, the majority in nursing. People with mental health issues in crisis will have fewer options to turn to. Some will invariably wind up, cold and suffering, on the street," Hurley warned. Shawn Shank, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 139, said health centre staff are worried about patient care, as well as their jobs. Staff are scared. They're also scared patients will fall through the cracks. We're already hearing elderly mental health patients are being transferred to nursing homes for care," Shank said. There's nowhere for these patients to go. They will end up on the street loitering."

Falling incomes, failed tax cuts, costly privatization must be addressed TORONTO, ON – Past decisions to cut corporate taxes, and use costly privatization schemes are creating a drag on the economy and driving down incomes across the province, Fred Hahn, president of the provinces’ largest union, told the finance committee during pre-budget consultations at Queen’s Park on January 29.

Monday, January 12, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 12, 2015Contact: Mark Almberg, PNHP communications director, 312-782-6006, mark@pnhp.org Medical billing paperwork and insurance-related red tape cost the U.S. economy approximately $471 billion in 2012, 80 percent of which is waste due to the inefficiency of the nation’s complex, multi-payer way of financing care, a group of researchers say.

CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas will be in Corner Brook, Tuesday, March 3 to present to the province’s 2015 Pre-Budget Consultations. Lucas says, “We will be telling the finance minister and the current government that the worst possible direction they could take right now would be more cutbacks and austerity.

The Globe and Mail Wed Mar 4 2015

Here we go again. Courts are being asked: Should citizens be allowed to buy private insurance for essential medical services? Or should citizens be restricted by what public health care provides, and when? This central question at the heart of single-tier public medicine was supposed to be before the B.C. Supreme Court this week. Instead, the provincial government discovered overlooked documents about wait times and asked for extra time. The delay matters little. Sooner or later, the issue of private health insurance for essential services will be before the B.C. court and then, almost certainly, before the Supreme Court of Canada again.

Dr. Brian Day is a long-time advocate of private medicine and the owner of the Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver, which offers surgeries for patients who wish to pay. Dr. Day advertises his clinic outside the province, too, for those from elsewhere wishing to avail themselves of faster treatment than the public system can provide. Dr. Day has brought this case to court on behalf of patients whose health, he argues, has been imperilled by long wait times. As Dr. Day told The Globe and Mail, "This is a case about patients being able to provide for their own health when the government won't provide it." Dr. Day is wrong when he asserts that the government "won't provide" service. The issue is rather more about when.

Vancouver Sun Sat Feb 28 2015

Americans spend a king's ransom on health care - 17.9 per cent of GDP, versus 10.9 per cent here - yet the U.S. finishes last in a Commonwealth Fund ranking based on 11 developed countries' health care quality, access, efficiency and equity. Before you start feeling too smug about this, consider that Canada ranked second-last. And before you reject everything in the Americans' health care tool chest, consider that some approaches they embrace and we shun - letting private insurance plans run in parallel to public plans, for example, or allowing private payments for services exclusively covered by government insurance in Canada - have been adapted and adopted by the higher-ranked countries in limited and careful, but highly effective, ways.

And here's the kicker - all of these countries' public systems cover a broader range of services than Canada, with its narrow focus on doctors' fees and hospital costs. Blomqvist and Busby note that Canadian governments cover about 70 per cent of our health care expenditures, roughly the average of all 34 OECD countries. But, thanks to pervasive restrictions that prevent or sorely limit private funding of ever-rising hospital and doctorrelated costs, little or no public money is available to fund things like universal outpatient drugs, eye care and dental plans that other countries routinely provide for citizens.

Toronto Star Thu Mar 5 2015

Ontario's nurses, social workers, lab technicians and other hospital staff have a lot of reasons to smile today. At a time when most pension plans are cutting benefits, their Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) has just increased inflation protection for its 295,000 members. Instead of covering 75 per cent of the annual increases in the cost of living, HOOPP is raising the bar to 100 per cent. While many plans struggle with underfunding, Ontario's third-largest pension fund has $1.15 on hand for every $1 it must spend. Stocks on the Toronto market returned 7.4 per cent on average in 2014, while HOOPP returned a record 17.71 per cent. The plan's average return in each of the last 10 years is 10.27 per cent.

CEO Jim Keohane seemed almost embarrassed Wednesday as he discussed his annual results. He noted sombrely, "We have the highest 10-year return of any global pension plan." Hey, let me in. Where can I get a pension plan like that? Well, in the private sector, nowhere. The surest way to rouse readers from slumber to red hot anger is to suggest that anything in the public sector can be better than the same thing done privately. The profit motive is the only way to breed efficiency, some say. Let the market decide. Government and quasi-government agencies are fat, wasteful and largely corrupt. You can add lazy, unproductive and incompetent.