Unless you have been living under a rock for some time, you know that Canada has been under siege by our American neighbours for the past year, both economically and politically. It has been gratifying, and somewhat comforting, to see the hard work at the federal and provincial/territorial levels to counter these threats with numerous tactics.
One of the strategies has been a commitment to remove trade barriers deemed unnecessary and economically damaging between the provinces and territories.
Applying the Trade Lens to Healthcare
Imagine if we employed the same lens for publicly funded health care across Canada. Yet no one seems to be talking about creating equitable access to health treatments across the country, no matter where they live or what their personal financial situation may be.
Shouldn't health care be as accessible across the country as Canadian goods? And isn't quality, accessible healthcare just as important a strategy to keep Canada strong economically?
Healthcare as an Economic Driver
Health-care delivery, including providing treatments, is generally seen as a cost centre without recognizing it is also a strong positive driver for the Canadian economy. Healthy people help to make Canada strong by increasing productivity in the workplace, allowing Canadians to fulfil necessary family duties without stress and hardship, and provides a stimulus to the economy through increased spending.
The health-care sector also provides quality jobs in many areas of the economy, including in research and development, direct care, medical technology and biomanufacturing. This in turn has a positive effect on other ancillary sectors creating spillover benefits to all areas of the economy.
A Harmonious Health System
Why not create a harmonious health system, remove red tape and create cost savings by having provinces/territories in partnership with the federal government work together to create a single list of treatments covered by medicare instead of making province-by-province decisions about what treatments to reimburse under our publicly funded health plan?
As long-time cancer patient advocates, we have seen people saved by access to health treatments through publicly funded plans – and lost to us for lack of such access. Many others have been bankrupted paying out-of-pocket for treatments and costs, including travel and accommodation, because a treatment is not available in their home province but available in another province (or even in another country).
National Standards for Medicare
It shouldn't matter where you live in Canada – medicare should cover health services and treatments equally across the country. If we can come to national agreements on goods, we can do it on health care.
We already have pan-Canadian health technology assessment bodies. We negotiate for public drug plan pricing together. The beginning of national pharmacare has been in the works for some time now.
It's time for the provinces and territories to come together on health care.
The federal government can help make it happen, just as it has on inter-provincial trade.
Upholding Canadian Values
It's also about our values as Canadians. The unequal access to health treatments across provinces breaches the spirit of the five principles underlying the Canada Health Act (CHA). In this legislation, we are promised universality, portability and accessibility as well as comprehensiveness and public administration. Unequal access to treatments across provinces is simply not in line with these principles.
Provinces will argue that the CHA is solely about hospital and physician services. But this legislation was enacted before the development of a vast number of health innovative treatments and testing that we have today. We can get with the times.
There is never a better time than now as we strive to make our country strong and united. The provision of equal access to necessary health treatments across Canada should be our goal because it is in line with our intention to make Canada strong economically – and upholds the social values we hold dear.
Louise Binder is the health policy consultant for Save Your Skin Foundation. Martine Elias is the CEO of Myeloma Canada.
