Health care’s taking a backseat in this election. That’s a missed opportunity, expert says

During this federal election period, tariffs, annexation threats and other surprising twists and turns from the Trump administration have focused on addressing Canada’s public health situation. A major expert on health law and policy experts says that is unfortunate.

“We are in a healthcare emergency in Canada, and it has been going on for several years since the pandemic,” said Colleen Flood, also dean of law at Queens University.

Estimated 6.5 million Canadians Do not access your doctor one third For those who find it difficult to make a reservation. The patient was waiting 222% long Rankings in Canada to meet specialists in 2024 rather than 1993 The worst waiting time All high-income universal medical countries.

Nationwide, more Canadians are paying more Canadians for healthcare, which the Canadian Health Act says will be available in the public system. Virtual Private Wage Family Medicine is readily available, with in-person clinics in most states and regions.

November 2024, CBC Radio White coat, black art The patient paid $150 for 15 minutes to pay $150 and visited the patient for 15 minutes.

The flood said White coat, black art Dr. Brian Goldman hosts the election as an opportunity for voters to request Canadians to provide the health care they need for the next federal government. Here is an excerpt from their conversation.

The Canadian Health Act includes the expectations of “reasonable access” to health care. Can I define it?

We all have minimal sensations, right? You want to access your family care team or your family doctor. We all want to access testing, diagnostic methods, specialists and hospitals within a reasonable period of time.

Canadian Health Law Set standards: Reasonable access. This is a bit of a joke at the moment. Inclusiveness, effective in hospital and physician services. [and] Portability – You should be able to get healthcare wherever you need it across Canada. The only way these standards can be implemented is when the federal government uses its discretion to withhold money.

The federal government has never used their discretion to keep money from states where waiting times grow or prevent everyone from accessing their primary care physicians… They are very nervous about using a hammer rather than a carrot to get where they want to go.

You write extensively about how to strengthen, or at least enforce, Canadian health laws. Try it out.

That’s nice to talk about. The Canadian Health Act has since been an incredible tool for Canadians. [former Minister of Health and Welfare] Monique Begin brought it to pass. However, it needs to evolve particularly around rational access. I think the federal government should overhaul the Canadian Health Act to require that provinces obtain a fair and transparent process to determine what reasonable access is. What does that mean for us in New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan in terms of access to family healthcare teams, nurse practitioners, or primary care physicians? Regarding maximum wait times, is it from a coverage perspective? …. And this changes our needs and is sometimes revisited to make sure they are updated to change to suit our needs.

Are you thinking about what federal parties are saying about what is happening in this current electoral environment?

Unfortunately, healthcare is taking the back seat due to the very serious situation in the US. And that’s really a shame as we’re in a healthcare emergency in Canada. We need parties to talk about their plans to improve public Medicare. And Canadians have to hold their feet on the fire about this. I advise everyone to ask candidates about what they specifically do to ensure that everyone has access to the care they need.

Many public healthcare in Canada began to pass after depression and World War II. So this will actually bring us more together about the importance of public healthcare, we will need to protect it.

Do you want to see the party leaders say about the future of healthcare during this election?

Honestly, I want them to say something about what they do. Conservatives may involve more private profits within public Medicare. Liberals may include more [mix] To get there. NDPs may prefer more public hospitals, perhaps more paying doctors. As you can see in the UK, when you move to the NHS-style system, everyone may have different recipes for improvement, but I think that Canadians need to hear: what is your plan? What do you actually do? And how do you ensure that I and my family will be able to get care when we need it?

I want to close by asking you, what should voters ask during this election period regarding health care?

Voters should be looking for parties to acknowledge that we are in real crisis, that we are in an emergency, and that we need to take very quickly and very important steps to fix Medicare. That’s simply unacceptable 6.5 million Canadians There is no reasonable access to family medicine, the most basic care. It’s even worse than being caring for them, craving care, clogging their ERS and waiting until they’ve escaped to deal with it. So what we want to see is that the parties are taking this crisis, this emergency very seriously and have a serious plan to deal with it.