MODERNIZATION OF CANADA HEALTH ACT

DEVELOPMENT:

A survey of Canadian health services was undertaken by Justice Emmett Hall in 1979. He reported that Canada’s health care ranked among the best health systems in the world but notified that extra-billing by doctors and user fees charged by hospitals were creating a system that could cause difficulty in accessibility of care; In response to these major concerns, Parliament passed the Canada Health Act in 1984 to limit hospital user charges and to control extra-billing by physicians and specialists.

BACKGROUND:

Canada Health act is a piece of Government of Canada legislation, passed by parliament in 1984 under the guidance of Monique Begin, then Minister of Health in Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government. The purpose of Act is to make sure that all residents of Canada have access to necessary hospital and physician services on a prepaid basis.

The act specifies criteria that the provinces and territories must satisfy to qualify for federal transfer payments. The Canada Health Act also contains provisions that ban extra-billing and user charges:

· No extra-billing by medical practitioners or dentists for insured health services under the terms of the health care insurance plan of the province or territory;

· No user charges for insured health services by hospitals or other providers under the terms of the health care insurance plan of the province or territory.

The five principles of Canada health act are,

· Public administration.

· Comprehensiveness.

· Universality.

· Portability.

· Accessibility.

MODERNIZATION OF CANADA HEALTH ACT:

From my perspective, in order to improve or modernize Canada Health Act, we need to minimize the excessive waiting times to see the specialists, specially for the diseases which are very painful and need to diagnose early like hemorrhoids, fissures and some gastric problems. The second most important point is to minimize the time period of OHIP for new immigrants in Ontario.

While searching for this topic, I found a latest study conducted in Vancouver which says that “Canadian are waiting longer than ever for specialist treatments.”

The study finds Ontario has the shortest total wait at 15.4 weeks while New Brunswick has the longest at 41.7 weeks. The waits in British Columbia and Alberta are both just over 26 weeks. It also says patients wait more than 41 weeks for orthopedic surgery, while the wait for medical oncology is just over three weeks. Canadians wait more than four weeks for a CT scan and nearly 11 weeks for a MRI scan, it adds.

Health Council of Canada recently summarized, “Canadians wait longer for primary, specialist, and emergency department care compared to citizens in most of the 11 countries surveyed in 2013.”

In order to modernize Canada health Act, steps should be taken at federal and provincial level to minimize the waiting period for patients by providing more funding to MOHLTC, provide new employment for nurses, technicians and doctors, providing latest instruments and equipments for special surgical procedures.

The Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE) is a very effective way to minimize the number of patients to see a doctor. It is a phone-based system available in some areas of British Columbia. Family physicians call a central phone number during business hours from Monday to Friday, and a specialist will call them back within a couple of hours because not every patient needs to see a consultant, their family doctor just need some guidance.

If federal and provincial government would take steps to increase the funding to medical care centers and hiring more medical staff, then I hope that things would be better and starts working.

2nd issue is related to waiting period of OHIP (Ontario health Insurance plan), as compared to other provinces which provide immediate health coverage to new immigrants, new Ontarians must wait three months after they arrive before their health care is covered by OHIP. The three-month waiting period prevents new Ontarians from having equal access to health care coverage and may as a result increase their risk of negative health outcomes. The Ontario government could eliminate three-month waiting period through an amendment to the Health Insurance Act, Regulation 552, section 5(1) so all new residents who meet OHIP eligibility requirements would immediately be able to receive health care coverage upon arrival in Ontario.

References

Huffpost. (2017, AUG 12). Specialist times have doubled for canadian. retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/12/08/specialist-wait-times-canada_a_23301428/

uOttawa. The society, individual, the medicine. The canada health act retrieved from http://www.med.uottawa.ca/SIM/data/Canada_Health_Act.htm

Wellesly institute. (2017, Jul 06). The Ohip three months wait. Retrieved from http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/3MonthWaitPolicyBrief.pdf