General Overview

Friends of Medicare is incorporated under the Societies Act of Alberta as the Alberta Society of the Friends of Medicare (FOM).

FOM is a provincial coalition of individuals, service organizations, social justice groups, unions, associations, churches and other organizations whose goal is to raise public awareness on concerns related to Medicare in Alberta and Canada.

Objectives

The objectives of the society are:

• To raise awareness of issues related to Medicare in Alberta and Canada.
• To collect and share information, and lobby governments to maintain a health care system that adheres to the spirit and the letter of the Canada Health Act.
• To promote the primary objective of Canadian health care policy; to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of the residents of Canada and to facilitate access to health services without financial or other barriers.
• To encourage governments to address the broad determinants of health.
• To encourage governments to expand and improve our public health care system.
• To oppose investor-owned, for-profit, two tiered or private health care.

Policy Statement

Non-Partisan

Friends of Medicare (FOM) is a non-partisan organization, not aligned with any political party. FOM forms associations with other groups when views on health care issues are forged by a common front.

Any FOM member who is in a leadership position; either as a provincial board member, chapter board member or media spokesperson; must resign his or her position immediately upon being nominated to stand as a candidate in a federal or provincial election.

Canada Health Act

Friends of Medicare is committed to the following principles of the Canada Health Act:

• Public Administration
• Comprehensiveness
• Universality
• Portability
• Accessibility

FOM holds that the primary objective of Canadian health care policy is to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate access to health services without financial or other barriers.

Financing

Friends of Medicare believes that all required health care services should be publicly funded. This funding must be stable and predictable and must not require health care premiums, user fees or other private funding.

FOM opposes the solicitation of funds from businesses or individuals for health care purposes.

Private clinics who choose the option of becoming completely private (patient pays), should not be allowed to enter into any variety of funding arrangements with the public sector to cover the full cost of insured services.

The same physician, surgeon or health care practitioner should not be able to practice in both the public and private systems if he/she is offering insured services which are fully paid for by the public system and non-insured services which are paid for privately.

Delivery

Friends of Medicare is opposed to the development of a parallel private for-profit health care delivery system.

FOM supports free collective bargaining between all health care workers and their employers.

FOM opposes the contracting out of health care services.

Services

Friends of Medicare supports:

• The establishment of a national Pharmacare program.
• The establishment of a national Homecare program.
• That the prescribed use of chronic care facilities be included in and covered by Alberta Health Care Insurance.

Mythbusters

The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation's website has a "Myth Busters & Evidence Boost" page that contains publications that provide the research evidence behind some of today’s major debates in health services management and policy.

Mythbusters is a series of research summaries revealing the research evidence contrary to accepted wisdom in Canadian healthcare debates.

Evidence Boost is a series that looks at healthcare issues where research indicates a preferred course of action in health services management and policy. In many cases the current research base is in sufficient to suggest a course of action. In others, however, the implications of research are unambiguous – these areas are the focus of Evidence Boost.