BC FORUM News - recirculated from the BC Health Coalition Towards a new Health Accord! March, 2016 - Today, March 31st, marks 12 years since the last negotiation of a Canadian Health Accord. The 2004 Accord expired in 2014, and since then Canada has been operating without an Accord. This has resulted in a patchwork system of health care across Canada where you can access some services under Medicare in one province but not in another. It has meant an increase in the privatization of services. It has stalled work on a national seniors care strategy and dramatically slowed the work towards a national public drug plan. This could all change very soon. The federal government has committed themselves to renegotiating a Canada Health Accord with the provinces and territories. The talks started this past January in Vancouver and the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC) was there with messages of support from people across the country. We need to keep up the pressure on our federal government to negotiate a strong Accord. One that will ensure everyone can access all medically necessary services regardless of their ability to pay. The letter we’ve attached below to Minister Philpott has been signed by our friends and allies at the provincial and territorial health coalitions. Together we are calling on the federal government to recommit and enforce the Canada Health Act, to stop the privatization of public services, and to take a strong leadership role in expanding public health care to cover medicines and seniors’ care. Please join us by sharing this letter with your neighbours, your friends and your Member of Parliament and talking to others about the need to protect, strengthen and expand public Medicare. Download the letter here.
Dear Minister Philpott, Twelve years ago today Canada’s First Ministers signed a Health Accord reaffirming their continued commitment to the principles and criteria of the Canada Health Act that ensures all medically necessary care be publicly administered, comprehensive, accessible, portable, universal and delivered without user fees or extra billing. The First Ministers agreed to tie federal dollars to national standards which decreased wait times. The Federal government committed to a 6% escalating transfer for the duration of the Accord, and conversations on creating a national public drug plan began. Two years ago today that Health Accord expired. Today we, a coalition of professionals, unions, health and social justice advocates, patients and seniors’ organizations are deeply troubled by the extent of violations of the Canada Health Act across the country, the decreased federal financial commitment beginning next year, and the lack of progress on a national public drug plan and a national seniors plan. In the past year alone, the provinces have failed several times to abide by the Canada Health Act. Bill 20 in Quebec forces patients to pay for medically necessary treatment. Bill 179 will lead to the opening of private MRI clinics in Saskatchewan and allow those who can pay to jump the queue ahead of others. In Ontario, we’ve found multiple cases of extra-billing and user charges, especially for cataract patients. In British Columbia, private clinics are charging illegal membership fees, user fees, and double billing patients and the provincial health care system. We are writing today to urge you, the federal government, to uphold the Canadian values of health care based on need and not the ability to pay and enforce the Canada Health Act. We want you to ensure fair federal funding to the provinces and territories for the duration of a 10-year Accord and tie that funding to national standards. And Canadians need you to lead the provinces and territories on the creation and implementation of a national public drug plan and a national seniors care strategy. It is up to the federal government to ensure that the provinces and territories are delivering health care according to the Canada Health Act. We, the undersigned, call on you to ensure all people in Canada can access the health care they need regardless of their ability to pay, wherever they live in Canada. We look forward to your response. Yours with warm regards, Canadian Health Coalition
BC Health Coalition
Friends of Medicare
Ontario Health Coalition
Coalition solidarité santé
PEI Health Coalition
Health Coalition of Newfoundland and Labrador | 
