Issue 6, May 2007

The Human Face of Healthcare
By Zoltan Nagy

When health administrators, politicians, health economists or policy experts of any persuasion provide commentary on the state of our health care system, we are presented with numbers – enormous numbers quite often. Five million Canadians don’t have a family physician, twenty three thousand die each year from in-hospital errors, two million Canadians are waiting to see a specialist, to get an MRI, or to have surgery. Read more...

Patient Focused Funding
By Dr. Brian Day

Canada is now the only remaining OECD country that funds public hospitals almost exclusively through block budgets. Block funding was popularized in the early 1970s as a means of simplifying hospital reimbursement by governments. In that pre-computer era, when waiting lists did not exist, there were reasonable arguments for this. However, times have changed, and we must rediscover what I prefer to call Patient Focused Funding (PFF). Read more...

Multi-tier health insurance alive and well in Canada By Kieran A.G. Bridge Most, but not all, provinces in Canada have laws that ban private insurance for services already covered by government health insurance plans. Two major gaps exist that are largely filled by private insurance: costs associated with dental care and expenses related to medications. In fact, about 30% of health care costs in Canada are currently paid for by private insurance or directly by patients. Read more...

Time to face the truth about healthcare
By Bert Brown

Post-Second World War Canada adopted a plan for a national health-care system based on the principal of universal health care. In reaction to gigantic increases in health-care costs, governments were forced to dump billions of dollars annually into efforts to supply "free" health care for the mega-rich and the tragically poor. Few want to see public health care fail, but it is already failing for those languishing six months to three years on waiting lists. Read more...

Health Care in the Media N.B. minister open to user-pay health care       April 27, 2007 Note to NDP: Come see us some time       March 28, 2007 Ideology blamed for rebuff of private surgery plan       March 22, 2007

Conversation on Health
Participate in the BC government's Conversation on Health at www.bcconversationonhealth.ca

2007 CIMCA Health Care Summit
CIMCA is gearing up for another health care summit in the fall of 2007. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements.

New constitutional challenge to be launched this week in Ontario
On May 2nd, the Canadian Constitution Foundation will announce its support for a person who will challenge Ontario’s Health Insurance Act, the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, and the Healthcare Accessibility Act.

CIMCA represents independent health care providers and their supporters to promote improved access to high quality and timely health care for all Canadians.

Our objectives are:

	To support high quality patient care and the highest professional and ethical standards
	To nurture cooperation between independent and public health care organizations
	To improve public policies that impact on access to health care
	To support innovation and new technology and promote accountability in the Canadian health system