editor, Author at Monitor Telegram

How to improve Indigenous health? Address jurisdictional disputes

May 9, 2017

In 2017, there remains a health-care system in Canada excluded from the shelter of the 1984 Canada Health Act. Funded by the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada (FNIHB), Canada’s 14th health-care system operates outside of the legislative framework of the 13 provinces and territories. It operates on First Nation reserves across Canada and in the Inuit communities of northern Quebec and Labrador.

Ample evidence shows that Canadians faced with serious health issues experience considerable challenges navigating their provincial health-care system. For First Nations and Inuit patients, this is compounded by having to continuously cross jurisdictional boundaries to access the care they need – They are faced with additional challenges because federal and provincial authorities often disagree on which system should pay for which services.

Studies have shown that jurisdictional confusion creates barriers to First Nations and Inuit accessing services other Canadians can expect. Despite having been involved in the funding and delivery of health services to First Nations and Inuit since 1945, the federal government has yet to clearly define its obligations to First Nations and Inuit in relation to the provision of health services.

Federal government spending tens of thousands at elite private club

May 9, 2017

Federal Crown corporations and government departments are spending tens of thousands of dollars each year at Ottawa’s elite Rideau Club.

According to documents tabled in the House of Commons, Crown corporations with business mandates topped the list of big spenders.

Once the place to see and be seen by top Ottawa business leaders and government mandarins, the Rideau Club’s popularity declined during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government as spending by public servants came under more scrutiny.

The pricey private club atop a downtown Ottawa skyscraper is still popular among lobbyists and government relations professionals who often invite MPs to receptions at the Rideau Club on behalf of various industries.

U.S. Health Care Has A Pretty Sweeping Definition Of ‘Pre-Existing Condition’

May 8, 2017

Yesterday in the U.S., the Republicans passed a vote in the House to repeal and replace the the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for the American Health Care Act (AHCA).

Though the bill still has to be passed into law (and there’s some doubt about that happening), it has plenty of Americans worried about their health care coverage — more, in fact, than might be assumed upon first glance.

According to Money magazine, under the AHCA, insurance companies will be able to charge people with pre-existing conditions more for their health insurance, an act currently banned by the ACA.

What’s at risk for Canada in the American health-care war?

May 7, 2017

America is facing a growing threat to the health of its citizens. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA). If the bill becomes law, it could leave millions in the U.S. without health care. And it could have an impact in Canada, too – but not for the reasons you might expect.

Why is the issue of health care in the U.S. so fraught? And is Canada immune to the social whiplash under way just south of us? As physicians observing from both sides of the border, we see two key reasons why this issue continues to polarize opinion in the U.S. But it is ultimately trade policy, not health policy, that will put Canadian medicare in the cross hairs.

Our Sick Health Care System

May 6, 2017

One way or another, we will have socialized medicine in this country. Politicians have raised and nurtured generations of people that expect something for nothing in exchange for votes. We have imported, legally and illegally, millions of uneducated, unskilled workers that can’t afford a band-aid. We have millions of students ‘graduating’ high school that can’t read, thus, unable to get a good job with health insurance.

We have a health care system where the middle class is strapped with not only their health care bills, but the bills of the people who did not pay. We have a health care system that cannot or will not control its costs of care while the number of people able to afford it dwindles. We have a system where an MRI costs $6,000 in one hospital, $4500 in another hospital and $250 in another hospital if you can pay cash.

Health care must be portable for all Canadians

May 5, 2017

“Why is the federal government letting Quebec get away with this violation, when it was so inflexible in the issue of extra-billing?” then federal health critic David Dingwall asked in May 1989.

Unfortunately, when he became Health Minister, he ignored the problem. So have all federal and provincial politicians. They have immediate, red-carpet health care and are not personally affected; only average working class persons — especially from Quebec — are.

This is not merely a matter of financial inconvenience. It can cause real hardship and adversely affect outcomes. A 2010 article in the Globe and Mail described a man living across the river from Ottawa who developed colon carcinoma. There was a year wait for a colonoscopy in West Quebec, and the Ottawa anesthetist refused to see him because he had Quebec insurance. He therefore waited several additional months until surgery could be done in Montreal. Sadly, by now he had extensive lymph node metastases, required high dose treatment, developed bowel obstruction and other complications, and died a couple of years later in great pain.

Mental health patients strapped, held down in Australian public hospitals, report reveals

May 5, 2017

New data has revealed how often mental health patients in Australia’s public hospitals are being restrained — either by being strapped or held down — with advocates warning the practice re-traumatises people and delays their recovery.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report revealed people were being held down on average at a rate of nine times for every 1,000 days spent in a facility.

Mechanical restraints such as straps, belts and manacles were less-commonly used, at under two events per 1,000 bed days.

Nationally, children were being physically restrained 10.9 times per 1,000 days in a mental health bed, while forensic services — which includes prisoners — was far higher at 110.2 incidents per 1,000 days.

Lawsuit says Wells Fargo targeted the undocumented

May 4, 2017

On “Hit the Streets Thursday,” Wells Fargo bankers and tellers, specifically those of Latino descent, scouted the streets and Social Security offices for potential clients. Their goal: Find undocumented immigrants, take them to a local branch and persuade them to open bank accounts.

Others hit construction sites and factories, according to court documents. Knowing that undocumented workers there needed a place to cash their checks, Wells Fargo employees urged them to open new accounts while promising to waive check-cashing fees. Some offered the immigrants money to open an account.

The more people signed up, whether it was for checking and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, online banking or overdraft protection, the better. If they signed up for all of the features, even better. Each new account was considered a sale, and the more sales employees rack up, the better their future was with the company.

That’s according to former employees’ sworn statements obtained last month by a law firm that has been handling a shareholder’s lawsuit against Wells Fargo. Former bank managers, personal bankers and tellers say they were forced to resort to questionable tactics to meet the company’s unrealistic sales quotas.

Mark Molumphy, an attorney for the firm, said the sales practices, which spanned 15 years, were not a secret to the bank’s executives and should have also been known to its board members.

Three startups, three ways to reduce stress on the health-care system

May 4, 2017

Since Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals embarked on testy negotiations with the provinces over health transfers for the next decade, Canadians have seen the re-emergence of a persistent public-policy issue: runaway medical expenses.

Those expenses now soak up more than 70 per cent of some provincial budgets, and Ottawa’s initial proposal — another 3.5 per cent a year — is widely seen as inadequate. The provinces feel — even with an added $11 billion the feds say they would spend on mental health and home care over the coming decade — that is simply not enough for a population that is both aging and ailing. Almost four in 10 Canadians over the age of 20 report that they suffer from at least one of 10 major chronic conditions.

But in the face of overstretched budgets, there are now other options, many of which represent the long-sought shift to prevention from cure. A growing number of entrepreneurs have recognized that with the assistance of cutting-edge technology, employers can play a role in reducing stress on the health-care system by helping their employees fend off illness.

OPINION | Canadians need to grow a consumer backbone: Neil Macdonald

May 3, 2017

So, United Airlines, after three weeks of groveling and apologizing for that terrifying police-state video on one of its flights a few weeks ago, is doing the sensible thing.

Instead of calling in police goons to brutalize seated passengers and drag them off overbooked flights, United will from now on offer up to $10,000 US to passengers who volunteer to take a later flight. A United spokeswoman quickly returned my call to confirm that.

But then, that’s the way the American market works.

Any U.S. company facing a blast-wave of consumer anger, and, in United’s case, watching its stock price wither, does what it has to do, knowing that customers can easily choose the competition.

Flight crews in the United States acknowledge that a thousand times a day upon landing: “Thanks for choosing us, we know you have a choice, and we appreciate your business,” or something to that effect.

Ever hear that on Air Canada? I haven’t.