“Lots of life left in the Canada Health Act,” hear researchers
Researchers from across Canada gathered at the University of Ottawa last week to discuss their insights on the four decades old Canada Health Act.
Creeping privatization, winning pharmacare, expanding Medicare and enforcing the Canada Health Act were some of the umbrella topics covered by the experts.
In a panel moderated by Hill Times health reporter Tessie Sanci, Jennifer Goodyer, Executive Director of the Canada Health Act Division for Health Canada, remarked, “there is still lots of life left in the Canada Health Act.”
The day ended with a fireside chat with Jane Philpott, former Health Minister and Dean of Medicine at Queen’s University, on her new book, Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada.
The Canadian Health Coalition brought back our annual research roundtable and decided to focus it on the Canada Health Act with researchers who have something to say about the legislation, including ways to improve it and its five key principles of universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability, and public administration.
The Canada Health Act sets out criteria and conditions that provincial and territorial health insurance plans have to meet in order to receive the Canada Health Transfer. The Act requires that medically necessary health services be insured by provincial or territorial plans. However, several health care services that many view as critical such as prescription medicine, mental health care and long-term care are not required by the Canada Health Act to be insured by the provinces and territories. Provinces and territories do insure other health care services besides those set out in the Canada Health Act.
In partnership with the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics with support from St. Thomas University, ideas about the Canada Health Act were debated but all agreed that our public health care system must be protected from private, for-profit interests.
Université de Moncton researcher Suzanne Dupuis-Blanchard, RN, PhD, and myself joined CBC Shift’s Vanessa Vander Walk to discuss the Research Roundtable on June 25. Listen here –
From CBC @ShiftNB with host @VanessaVVCBC
— Cdn Health Coalition (@HealthCoalition) June 25, 2024
The Canada Health Act is 40 years old-here's a look back at the past 40 years, and the state of healthcare now, with 2 New Brunswick researchers — @TracyAGlynn and Suzanne Dupuis-Blanchard @prof_sdb https://t.co/gOKk3rxeaN
This summer, stay tuned for a weekly video blog series summarizing each panel presented at the Canada Health Act at 40 Research Roundtable. The videos will be published in our e-newsletter as well as on our Youtube channel.
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Tracy Glynn is the National Director of Projects and Operations for the Canadian Health Coalition
