New National Report Outlines the Huge Cost of the Failed Health Accord

As Health Ministers from across Canada meet in Edmonton this week, Canada's Health Coalitions released a report showing the recent bilateral health schemes pushed through by the Trudeau government have come at a huge cost.  The report "Health Accord Breakdown: Costs and Consequences of the Failed 2016/17 Negotiations" calculates that the failure of the Health Accord will mean a health care funding shortfall of $31 billion for the provinces with no concrete targets to improve public health care for Canadians and no plan to bridge the fiscal gap. Calling the rhetoric around health transformation and target funds for home and mental health care "more PR than substance", the coalitions also tallied the non-monetary costs of the lost Health Accord: the grave problems of under capacity in public hospitals, long-term and community care; long-waits; growing inequities and problems with access to care that will continue without any national plan to address them.

Prescription Drug Coverage Needed to Fight Poverty for Alberta’s Working Class

At today’s annual Labour Day barbecue for the unemployed and underemployed organized by the Edmonton & District Labour Council, the EDLC, End Poverty Edmonton & Friends of Medicare are calling for action on universal prescription drug coverage to help fight poverty in Alberta.

Canadian Health Advocates to Premiers: Stand up for Public Health Care

Health care advocates from across the country gathered in Edmonton today at a rally outside the Hotel Macdonald to call on Canada’s Premiers to fight for patients and call for fair federal funding for health care.

TPP the Wrong Prescription for a Healthy Democracy

Friends of Medicare are speaking out on the potential harm the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement will cause to Canada’s health system.

At House of Commons consultations in Calgary, Executive Director Sandra Azocar made the case that the TPP “limits Canadians ability to find democratic and public solutions to ongoing healthcare issues, most notably on pharmaceutical costs.”

Today March 31^st, marks 12 years since the last negotiation of a Canadian Health Accord. That accord had expired in 2014. We continue to see aggressive and increased privatization, from pay-for-plasma to private MRIs and much more. We have stalled on progress towards a national seniors strategy and still do not have a commitment to a national public drug plan. The need for a new accord is clear.

Friends of Medicare has forwarded two sets of questions to the three PC leadership candidates. We received a form response from Jim Prentice's team which was basically a repeat of his 'health care policy' which left us with more questions than answers. We received no responses from Ric McIver or Thomas Lukaszuk. Both of these candidates have yet to share their formal policy on health care. Here is the first set of questions we sent to the candidates:

Edmonton - Minister Fred Horne's response issued today to the seniors and advocacy groups who comprise the Seniors' task force of Public Interest Alberta is a series of vague and disingenuous claims.

Friends of Medicare joined seniors to occupy Health Minister Fred Horne's office today to protest cuts to Alberta's seniors drug plan. The action was led by Public Interest Alberta's Seniors' Task Force, of which Friends of Medicare is a member.