UPDATE
Register today for our Sticking up for Public Health Care Townhall
Our health care system is in crisis. We’re in urgent need of reform, innovation, and brave conversations about what the future must look like for public health care. We’re extremely concerned that the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is sponsoring a cross-country conversation about the role of private health care. We’re pushing back. Join us for an evening of learning and organizing, where we will examine the overwhelming evidence against growing the role of private for-profit providers. To be clear – this is not a debate. Public health care is the proven best way to ensure access to health care is based on need, not wealth. We will hear from health care providers and experts on the many possibilities for improving access and quality of health care within the public system. Register today to secure your spot!
ACTION
There’s still time! Let us know what your priorities are for long-term care funding reform
Don’t miss your chance to help shape our campaign’s demands for long-term care funding reform. For-profits are making a profit from the long-term care system in BC and leaving seniors behind. The government is currently working on a new funding model, and the BC Health Coalition is planning a major campaign to ensure the new model takes into account the priorities of seniors, families, and workers. Fill out the survey today – we need as many voices as possible to weigh in!
WATCH & LEARN
Ghost Management and Pharmacare
In 21st century corporate capitalism, the earning capacity of dominant corporations depends much less on their capacity to be more competitive in the market, and more on their capacity to circumvent the market altogether, through different, hidden strategies of influence over the social structures. We call these systematic behind-the-scenes efforts and strategies deployed by corporations to shape knowledge, narratives, practices or regulations in ways that benefit their commercial interests to the detriment of the public interest “ghost-management”. Drug coverage in Canada is fragmented and dysfunctional, allowing for different problematic strategies from drug companies, insurance companies and drug plans. Political economist Marc-André Gagnon explains how the system works and why so many stakeholders prefer to stick with a dysfunctional and wasteful system. Listen to the podcast to learn more.
Public Health News, Updates & Resources
BC’s Health-Care Worker Shortage Is Hurting Patients More than half of care aides in B.C. say they don’t have enough time to meet residents’ care needs and more than 80 per cent say they’ve been abused or assaulted while on the job, according to a recent poll from the Hospital Employee’s Union released last week.
A new community-led primary care clinic opens its doors in Cumberland Having witnessed the need for sustainable access to primary care services, Cumberland’s former mayor Leslie Baird introduced the concept of a community-led non-profit clinic catering to the region’s residents. With financial and technical support from numerous stakeholders, it has finally become a reality.
Here’s a Quick Way the BC Government Can Reduce Poverty This can start by the BC government raising desperately low income and disability assistance rates, says the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition.
B.C. receives failing grades in national poverty report card To help British Columbians move out of poverty, Food Banks Canada says the provincial government must improve accessibility to, and availability of affordable housing, and address the provincial mental health and addictions crisis.
2024 CBSS Sector Summit: Presentation Proposal Invitation (deadline EXTENDED to November 4, 2023) In 2024, community organizations who are making a difference in the lives of older Canadians will come together to share knowledge, establish shared needs and priorities. Apply to become a presenter and share your expertise with your fellow changemakers in the sector.
Ottawa pinpoints 5 ‘concrete’ priorities after health ministers meet on P.E.I. Health ministers from across the country wrapped up two days of meetings in Charlottetown. Outside the health-care meeting rooms, members of the Canadian Health Coalition held a rally, calling on the country’s health ministers to halt any further privatization of health care in Canada.
Pharmacare’s Big Moment Is Here. The Deciding Factor Is Political Will Pharmacare is more than just a financial system. It is — or should be — a system of policies aimed at integrating medicines into Canadian medicare to ensure access to a safe and secure supply of treatments at affordable prices.
Former Health Ministers join experts, patients and care providers in calling for universal pharmacare “We should approach prescription drugs the same way we do health care, which should be based on your need, and not on your ability to pay. And that principle of medicare should necessarily be translated into a similar principle for pharmacare,” says Dr. Eric Hoskins, former Ontario health minister who led a comprehensive study of pharmacare.
Cost Estimate of a Single-payer Universal Drug Plan Single-payer pharmacare will allow Canadians to fill over 100 million prescriptions that are currently being left unfilled at a conservative net savings to Canadian households and businesses of $2 billion per year.