May 24, 2022
EDMONTON
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Support for EMS is urgently needed this Paramedic Services Week |
This week is Paramedic Services Week, and Friends of Medicare would like to take this opportunity to recognize the instrumental role that paramedics play in our health care system—and especially when a public health crisis is at hand.
Read moreMay 19, 2022
EDMONTON
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Albertans need a Premier who will protect and strengthen public health care |
This change in leadership is happening at a time when Albertans are struggling with a health care system in chaos; surgeries are again being cancelled due to short staffing, families are having to line up outside of Emergency Rooms to get in, EMS red alerts are becoming increasingly common, and tens of thousands of folks are struggling to find a family doctor.
Read moreMay 13, 2022
EDMONTON
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Albertans Rallying Together for Public Health Care |
‘Better Way Alberta’ rallies, being held on May 14 in Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge, are a joint effort of Friends of Medicare, the Alberta Federation of Labour, the United Nurses of Alberta, and others in protest of this government’s ongoing attacks on Alberta’s public health care.
Read moreMay 12, 2022
EDMONTON
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Nurses deserve support and respect during Nurses Week, and year-round |
This week is National Nursing Week, with May 12 marking International Nurses Day. Friends of Medicare would like to take this opportunity to recognize the instrumental role that nurses play throughout every aspect of our health care system—a role that has been amplified and become all the more vital as we battle the disastrous consequences of a worldwide pandemic.
Read moreMay 4, 2022
EDMONTON
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Short-sighted cuts to insulin pump program will cost Albertans more for the care they need |
Yesterday, the provincial government announced changes to its insulin pump benefits program, impacting up to 4,000 Albertans with diabetes. Instead, people will have to seek coverage via private workplace insurance plans, or government benefit plans, potentially leaving many Albertans subject to costly co-pays and premiums.
Alberta’s complex patchwork of private and public drug and supplementary health benefit plans has left far too many of us struggling to pay for the medications and treatments we need. An estimated 420 working-aged Canadians with diabetes die each year because they don't have adequate access to their medications.
Read moreApril 28, 2022
EDMONTON
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Ending Discriminatory Blood Ban Good News for Canada’s Public Blood Supply |
This morning, Health Canada approved Canadian Blood Services’ request to end the 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men, effectively lifting the ban on their ability to donate blood and plasma.
Read moreApril 27, 2022
EDMONTON
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The Day of Mourning: Statement from Friends of Medicare |
EDMONTON
April 22, 2022
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Ophthalmology privatization puts private profits over public good |
Today, Health Minister Copping announced that the government would be moving forward with plans to further privatize Alberta’s surgical services, specifically our ophthalmology.
The persistent myth around private health care is that it serves more patients quicker, but the reality is far different. Patients are often upsold and over-referred in place of those who are truly in need. Statistics from prior to the pandemic consistently showed wait times were months longer in Calgary Zone, where over 80 percent of all non-urgent cataract surgeries are done in the private sector, than those performed in the Edmonton area, where the majority are completed in the public sector.
Read moreApril 7, 2022
EDMONTON
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Federal Budget Expansion of Dental Coverage Good News for Alberta Children |
This afternoon the federal government tabled their budget for 2022-2023. It included items laid out in the Confidence and Supply Agreement with the NDP, most notably: adding dental care coverage for all children 12 and under this year.
“Dental care is health care. Yet far too many Albertans have long been forced to forego necessary dental procedures due to cost-related barriers to access, and entrenched economic inequality,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “The dental care commitment in today’s federal budget is good news for Alberta children, and we’re hopeful this will be the first step towards truly universal public dental care for all.”
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