Long-term care costs will triple in 30 years: expert
This edition of who is saying what about public health care includes ideas on how to pay for long-term care, calls for health care reform and the ‘Rise Above Racism’ campaign against racism in health care.
Long-term care- who’s going to pay and how?
“Our long-term care costs for older Canadians are going to triple over the next 30 years . . .People are not saving like they used to because they need to spend their money to simply exist. When people start talking about their long-term care costs and say, ‘What, that’s not covered?’, I think a plan like Employment Insurance or the Canada Pension Plan starts becoming attractive,” Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health in Toronto and one of the authors of a National Institute on Aging Report on a long-term care insurance program in Canada, The Toronto Star, June 3, 2023
Decide for yourself, read the report.
Premiers must focus on health care reform
“We really are at a critical point. We’re going to see overwhelming (strain) in emergency rooms where primary care isn’t available. We’re going to see backlogs in hospitals when emergency rooms are overwhelmed. Surgical capacity is going to get shut down as hospital capacity starts to drop. All these problems are connected,” said Dr. Alika Lafontaine, president of the Canadian Medical Association, The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2023
June 15 strike deadline for Manitoba health care professionals
“Shared Health has misrepresented the state of bargaining. The two parties are still far apart on a number of significant issues, including both monetary and non-monetary issues that affect recruitment, retention, work-life balance and other important working conditions,” said Jason Linklater, president, Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, Winnipeg Free Press, June 1, 2023
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Nova Scotia Health launches ER wait times website – but no guarantees
“The site (is an) ‘information tool’ that will give people an idea of how long they may need to wait for care. (Wait times) may not be the time a person will need to wait once they arrive.” – News release quoted on CBC News, June 6, 2023
Prince Edward Islanders demand action
“I’m a little tired of hearing that everybody is in a healthcare crisis. I know that. But my perception having lived just one province away is that even New Brunswick is miles ahead of P.E.I. right now. “We need to stop minimizing the problem by saying ‘Oh, well everybody is in a healthcare crisis,'” said Alicia Grant of Tignish, PEI, to CBC News, June 6, 2023
Pharma foibles: Shortage of critical cancer drugs – Health Canada explains, or does it?
“Other players in the drug supply chain may help address and prevent drug shortages by forecasting future supply and demand; monitoring for early signs of supply issues and sharing supply vulnerability information with Health Canada; increasing manufacturing capacity maintaining well-stocked inventories of critical drugs; effectively managing existing supply; and supporting patients by providing health care advice on alternatives”: Health Canada in a statement reported by City News, Vancouver, June 6, 2023
Indigenous coalition urges ‘Rise Above Racism’ in Canada’s health care system
“We’re devastated that we have do a public awareness campaign against racism (in healthcare), however we are here and we are doing it,” said Marion Crowe, CEO of the First Nations Health Managers Association, to the message.