BC FORUM News - from The Advocate, June, 2014

Health Care: Now is the time

After a year and a half of consultations with thousands of Canadians in public forums and meetings with key stakeholders, NDP Health Critic Libby Davies (Vancouver East) has released a report that summarizes what she heard, and what needs to be done to improve public health care.

“This document outlines the concerns we heard from Canadians regarding primary care, home and long-term care, mental health, prescription drug coverage, and preventative health care,” said Davies.

The work by Davies also outlines the steps that New Democrats propose to strengthen Medicare. Among the highlights, the report says the NDP will:

• Revoke the Conservatives’ unilateral decision to take $36 billion in anticipated funding out of health care.

• Support the development of new agreements with provinces and territories to improve health outcomes for Canadians.

• Invest in prevention by addressing the social determinants of health to ensure all Canadians have a decent income, access to healthy food, affordable housing and a social safety net.

• Ensure better value by working with provinces to make better use of resources and fundamentally change how health care services are organized, managed and delivered.

“The federal government has a clear role in ensuring that health care in Canada remains public and accessible,” says the report.

“In particular, the federal government must investigate and enforce the ban on troublesome practices such as double-billing, queue-jumping, and increased privatization of medically necessary services.”

The report identifies four major pillars for action: better access to prescription drugs, better care across the continuing care spectrum, timely access to primary care and prevention.

As an example of problems in the system, the report notes that half of Canadians cannot get a same day or next day appointment with their family doctors, thereby increasing the pressure on hospital emergency rooms.

You can read the full report on the web at www.ndp.ca/health.