Healthcare Waste Archives - Page 18 of 25

‘How many children do we have to lose?’ Ontario Children’s Aid joins call for inquest into aboriginal deaths

May 15, 2017

TORONTO — The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies is joining a call for a coroner’s inquest into the recent deaths of aboriginal youth living in group homes in the province.

First Nations in Ontario and the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth called for an inquest earlier this month following the deaths of two girls who lived in group homes in the Ottawa area.

Chiefs with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations communities in Ontario, then renewed their demand last week, just days after the body of Tammy Keeash, who had also been living in a group home, was found in a floodway in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The chiefs said four aboriginal youth living in group homes had died in the province in six months.

It’s not just Americans who need to worry about health-care costs: Pape

May 12, 2017

Last week, I spent four days in hospital for a surgical procedure (don’t worry, nothing life-threatening). When I was discharged, I was presented with a bill for $1,055. That covered semi-private accommodation (the hospital had no facilities that qualified as “wards”) and some recommended post-op massage therapy. None of the expenses were covered by OHIP.

I have a family member who suffers from a rare and debilitating disease. His specialists have prescribed a very rare drug, which costs about $3,000 a month. It is not covered by OHIP.

A friend of mine has a very serious eye condition. He requires monthly shots just to maintain the limited vision he has left, at a cost of $1,500. Since he is under age 65, he has to pay for these out of his own pocket. OHIP doesn’t cover it.

Canadians with disabilities face alarmingly high tax rates, new report reveals

May 11, 2017

A new report reveals that low-income working Canadians with disabilities are facing tax rates of over 100% and advocates say that has to change.

The alarming report from the Library of Parliament shows that federal and provincial taxes combined with various benefit clawbacks make many working disabled taxpayers worse off for working longer hours, getting raises or in some cases even working in the first place.

It’s an issue that disability advocates have long known about, but this marks the first time it’s been formally tabulated by the government.

Hawaii joins call for increasing authority in Medicaid fraud investigations

May 11, 2017

Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin has joined the attorneys general of 37 states and the District of Columbia to widen their authority in the investigation of Medicaid fraud.

The National Association of Attorneys General is urging the federal government to change its policy, so state attorneys general can use federal funds to investigate and prosecute a wider range of Medicaid abuse and neglect cases. The letter was sent to Tom Price, secretary of health and human services.

Canada should take health-care lessons from Australia

May 10, 2017

Australia and Canada share many characteristics, but Canadians may not know one of them is that Australia’s universal health insurance scheme, Medicare, was modelled on Canada’s, albeit adapted to account for constitutional differences between the two countries.

There are indeed a number of areas where Australia’s experience might prove helpful to Canada. The first is the public funding of pharmaceuticals. Australia has had a national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme since the late 1940s. It now provides comprehensive coverage against the cost of pharmaceuticals for the whole population. The scheme, though, requires patients to make a modest co-payment for each prescription. For people on income support (retirees, unemployed) the co-payment is $6.30 ($6.34); for the rest of the population it is $38.80. There is a safety net, which drops the price to zero or $6.30 after about 50-60 prescriptions a year.

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.

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.

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.