health – mackaycartoons

Saturday April 29, 2017

April 28, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 29, 2017

Proposed: Publicly funded drug plan for all Ontarians under 25

Give one cheer for the Liberals. Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario government has finally bit the bullet on publicly funded pharmacare.

February 24, 2017

Their scheme to provide those under 25 with free prescription drugs isn’t comprehensive. Nor, in spite of Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s boast, is it exactly path-breaking.

Saskatchewan already offers a similar, albeit less generous, drug plan to children 14 and under.

But it is a start.

The plan, announced in Thursday’s budget, would allow any Ontarian age 24 and under who needs prescription drugs for medical purposes to receive them at no cost.

March 10, 2017

Unlike the province’s drug plan for seniors, there would be no co-payment and no deductible. Unlike the drug plan for welfare recipients, there would be no means test.

Rather, like medicare, it would be universally available and cover the entire cost of roughly 4,400 drugs.

Experts can argue whether the Liberal pharmacare plan is better or worse than that pitched by Andrea Horwath’s Ontario New Democrats. The NDP proposes a scheme that would cover everyone under 65 but only for 125 commonly prescribed drugs.

But the Liberals have the advantage of being in power right now. If they follow through on their promise, their truncated pharmacare plan will come into effect next January.

March 8, 2016

For these reasons, any move toward universal publicly funded pharmacare is welcome and probably irreversible. Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown told reporters Thursday that he would prefer a scheme that is means-tested. But Ontario already has a drug benefit program for the poor.

What is useful about this scheme is precisely what Brown doesn’t like about it: It is a step on the road to universal pharmacare.

Sousa told reporters that he hopes Ontario’s move will persuade Ottawa and other provinces to act. Perhaps it will. (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday December 21, 2016

December 20, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 21, 2016

Ottawa, provinces fail to reach a deal on health spending

Ottawa and the provinces have failed to reach a deal on health-care funding, despite a $11.5-billion pledge by the federal government to boost targeted spending on home care and mental health.

The federal government has now taken that offer off the table, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Monday, and the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) spending increase will revert to 3 per cent a year as of April 1, 2017.

Morneau had told the provinces he was willing to grow that key federal transfer by 3.5 per cent each year over the next five years — at a value of roughly $20 billion — but the provinces balked.

“We came to the provinces with a significant offer of funds … We’re disappointed we weren’t successful,” Morneau told reporters.

Jane Philpott, Canada’s health minister, said the federal government’s money could have made a real difference in the lives of many Canadians.

“I woke up this morning feeling very hopeful, thinking about half a million kids that are waiting for care for mental health services and hoping to be able to give them good news today,” she said.

“We’re disappointed that the provinces and territories did not feel like they could accept this offer and that they couldn’t find ways to use these resources immediately, to be able to get care out to Canadians.”

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said while the provinces rejected the federal funding plan, it was Morneau who was responsible for ending the meeting early.

“There was an urgency to close the meeting off. We’re here, we desire an agreement, we need to come to a conclusion. Why have anybody attend if there’s nothing to negotiate or discuss?” Sousa said, adding Ottawa wasn’t willing to listen to evidence that its proposed funding plan would imperil the country’s health-care system. (Source: CBC News)

Wednesday November 23, 2016

November 22, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 23, 2016

Continental contrast with Coal

Canada plans to phase out most coal-powered electricity plants by 2030, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced Monday.

By speeding up the timeline for closing coal-fired plants, which spew more pollution than most other fossil fuels, the country expects to reduce its carbon emissions by 5 megatons, or the equivalent taking of 1.3 million cars off the road. Coal makes up nearly three-quarters of the Canadian electrical industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, and over 8 percent of the country’s total carbon footprint.

Roughly 80 percent of Canada’s electricity currently comes from zero-emission sources, McKenna said. Under the new regulations, that number should increase to 90 percent over the next 14 years. Other countries, including Austria, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have also accelerated their plans to wean themselves off coal, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But the move comes as the U.S., Canada’s largest trading partner, seems set to scale back environmental regulations and bolster the coal industry once President-elect Donald Trump office next year.

Trump campaigned hard in coal country, promising to put miners back to work by slashing pollution restrictions and scrapping President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which would have forced the utility sector to use more renewable energy. Most of the coal industry’s biggest players have gone bankrupt over the last two years, in large part because of ill-conceived bets on the future of Chinese economic growth. Even coal barons who backed Trump admit the coal industry isn’t coming back. (Source: Newsweek)

Tuesday August 16, 2016

September 12, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 16, 2016

Trump suggests Hillary’s been sick for a while as he prepares to release ‘very, very specific’ numbers from his latest physical – on Dr. Oz’s show

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested that Hillary Clinton has been sick for a while, pointing to her coughing fit last week as evidence that ‘something’s going on.’

‘I really just don’t just know. I hope she gets well soon. I don’t know what’s going on,’ Trump said when asked about it on ‘Fox and Friends’ Monday morning.

He wished Clinton well after her weekend health scare – and revealed he is preparing to release detailed results of his own physical on Thursday.

The big reveal will come on Dr. Mehmet Oz’s TV show, according to a report from the Fox News Channel.

Trump’s campaign said last week that he would share his ‘health regimen’ with the Tv doc, but the planned appearance has gained new significance in the wake of Hillary’s collapse on Sunday.

Trump was uncharacteristically silent – including on Twitter – on Sunday, even as Clinton was spirited away from a Sept. 11th ceremony in New York, where was captured on video stumbling on the way to her van before her campaign finally revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

Then he brought up Clinton’s prolonged coughing allergy last week, which Clinton jokingly chalked up to a Trump allergy.

‘The coughing fit was a week ago, so I assume that was pnemonia also. I would think it would have been. So something’s going on.’

Trump also attended the ceremony in New York, but without incident.

‘I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail and we’ll be seeing her at the debate,’ he added.

Trump indicated he’ll be putting out detailed results about his own health.

‘I think it’s an issue. In fact, this last week I took a physical,’ he said. ‘I’ll be releasing – when the numbers come in, hopefully they’re gonna be good, I think they’re gonna be good. But when the numbers come in, I’ll be really very, very specific numbers, Trump said.

To date Trump, 70, has only released a short letter from a doctor, who the Clinton campaign has noted is not an internist but a gastroenterologist. The letter stated he would be the ‘healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.’

Clinton will be 69 when she takes office if elected. (Source: Daily Mail)

Tuesday May 10, 2016

May 9, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 10, 2016

Ontario Health Coalition holding unofficial referendum on healthcare funding

Healthcare workers and community activists are hoping an Ontario-wide unofficial referendum will raise awareness of the concerns they have about provincial funding.

The Ontario Health Coalition, a group of activists working to improve the public healthcare system, is launching their campaign in communities such as Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor, Sudbury and Guelph on Monday.

“The cuts have been severe in Ontario… we’re doing a referendum because this has pretty much happened by stealth or by talk of not enough resources to go around,” said Albert Dupuis, co-chair of the local Ottawa coalition organizing the campaign in that city.

The group will be distributing ballot boxes to businesses, workplaces and community centres across the province.

The unofficial referendum will ask people if they’re for or against the idea “Ontario’s government must stop the cuts to our community hospitals and restore services, funding and staff to meet our communities’ needs for care.”

The group says healthcare in Ontario has been under-funded for years and is below the Canadian per capita average by about $350 per person.

The Liberals ended a four-year hospital base funding freeze in its latest budget promising to spend $60 million on hospital budgets along with $75 million for palliative care and $130 million for cancer care, but the Ontario Health Coalition has said that isn’t enough.(Source: CBC News)