Op-Eds
The recent controversy sparked by Ontario’s announcement that it will expand the use of private surgery and diagnostic-imaging clinics has missed the point. Health care in Ontario is already much more “private” than most people know, and the province has never had a universal system that is publicly funded and publicly delivered in a truly comprehensive manner. Myths about how our health care system does (or does not) work are unhelpful when attempting to address the very real challenges that result in long delays for surgeries and doctor’s appointments.
A major point of contention is the spending of public money on procedures completed at “for-profit” clinics, which is usually a criticism levied at the province for…
The pandemic has revealed the fragility of Canada’s health care system, and there is growing recognition that changes are needed to curb rising costs and promote efficiency. But in a health care financing model such as ours, change is difficult, especially with responsibility spread across various political masters. We should try a different approach, based on a model such as that in the Netherlands, which scores better on criteria such as completeness of coverage and wait times.
Canadian medicare, of course, is often described as a “single-payer model” because everyone in a given province or territory is covered by the same government plan. Doctors and hospitals derive virtually all of their revenue from the government plan in…
The COVID-19 pandemic has focussed attention on Canada’s preparedness for the next pandemic, especially in terms of vaccine development and self-sufficiency. As we faced disruptions in the supply of COVID vaccines from other countries, many politicians, academics and pundits called for a public agency that would be charged with pandemic vaccine production and possibly vaccine development, as well.
Advocates for a new public vaccine agency cite the historic example of Connaught Labs, which was founded in 1914 at the University of Toronto. Over the years, Connaught made advances in the development and manufacture of vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, smallpox and polio, among others. In 1972, the federal government…
Paper health care records have been a danger to both patients and providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have been able to get my 85-year old mother’s banking and bills online to keep things up to date. I could even do her taxes and basic government functions online. I should have been able to help manage her health care information too. But I couldn’t.
This story of failure became clear to me as our team interviewed over a hundred people for my June 2021 report for Health Canada, The State of Virtual Care in Canada as of Wave Three of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Early Diagnostique and Policy Recommendations. Two key deficits in our health-care system became evident when social distancing necessitated…
In 2021, nothing was different, but everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic dragged on. The Omicron variant caused a surge in cases, accompanied by now-familiar restrictions and guidance to limit travel, protect seniors and work from home. The same could have been said this week last year, substituting Delta for Omicron. This time, though, there is not the same hope that vaccination will end the pandemic and begin a new normal, whatever new normal might be.
Lots happened in the past year. Vaccines were approved in late 2020, and mass vaccination gave Canada one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Proof-of-vaccination certificates were developed and deployed to balance risks to public health against…
