Send Health Minister
Anne McLellan a Message

Dear Ministers,

A sense of frustration is growing among Canadians as we witness the continuing political game that's being played with Canada's health care system. We have watched in dismay as governments have cast blame on each other while the Medicare system that Canadians cherish is left to atrophy for a lack of funding and a lack of will.

Ideology and jurisdictional power struggles seem to have a replaced goodwill and the public interest in this most crucial public policy area. As Canadians, we urge each of you to act in the interests of Canadians in every region who have trusted the protection and preservation of Medicare to each of your governments.

Times of great need, we are told, are the times when true leaders emerge and display the courage to set aside differences for the sake of the common good. The challenge facing accessible public health care demands that kind of courage from each of you.

Canadians have made it clear that they want universal, accessible, single-tier public health care. It is repeatedly demonstrated to be their highest public policy priority .

To that end, we propose five steps that Canada's Ministers of Health should take to re-gain the tattered trust of Canadians and renew the sacred trust of Medicare.

1. Immediately restore federal health care funding. Finger-pointing and misleading talk of "tax points" and other diversions must be put aside and clear, increased funding lines established.
2. Stop the creeping privatization of health care. The race to a US-style health care system must be stopped. The federal government must: vigorously enforce the principles of the Canada Health Act; guarantee that provinces use federal transfers for health, on health; ensure that no public dollars go to the private, for-profit delivery of health care services; make unambiguous carve outs for health policy a condition for entering into any international trade obligations.
3. Improve the quality and quantity of long-term care. As our population ages, the strain on our acute care facilities will over-burden them unless we take adequate steps now to expand long-term care opportunities in every region of the country. There is also an urgent need to end the quilt of provincial government standards within and across provinces and set national standards of care across the country.
4. Include home care services under the Canada Health Act. Just as long-term care makes sense as a way to better deliver care to hundreds of thousands of Canadians, home care must be an equal part of the equation. Adding home care to Medicare is the most cost-effective and compassionate public policy response to the reality of an aging population.
5. Pharmacare must be part of the Canada Health Act. The share of health care dollars spent on prescription drugs is growing each year and as it does, the level of health care disparity grows with it. Those who can afford their prescriptions receive a different level of care than those who cannot. By making pharmacare a part of the national standard, all Canadians would be guaranteed access to the highest quality of care.

As you know, the politics of health care are riddled with challenges. The most important challenge today will be to put aside political agendas and adopt, instead, the agenda of Canadians everywhere who want the posturing to stop and the re-building of Medicare to begin.

Be assured that if you do that, you will have the support of the vast majority of Canadians everywhere. The future of Medicare depends on the ability of each of you to live up to the trust we have placed in you. Please give it your best effort. A nation will be watching.

Signed,

by supporters of
The Campaign to Save Medicare