Society has focused on treating acute health problems after they arise, and failed to place sufficient priority on preventing illness in the first place.

The World Health Organization defines health as “a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Our present health care system addresses only one dimension – the treatment of disease and/or trauma by qualified professionals in publicly funded medical facilities.

Hundreds of chemicals used in our everyday lives carry risks of increased cancer, infertility, learning disabilities and other intellectual impairment, and damage to the immune system. Despite rising cancer rates, the federal government hasn’t done enough to ensure that potentially carcinogenic environmental factors are eliminated. There are less toxic substitutes for these products, but industry pressure to maintain their registration and legal use drowns out the voices of concerned health professionals and families concerned about health.

We should remove from use chemicals known to significantly increase the risk of human cancer, immuno-suppression, endocrine disruption, neuro-toxicity and/or mutagenicity.

We can enhance population health through active living – promotion of walking, cycling and being fit. As well, as was done in New Zealand when the Green Party was in a coalition government, provide funds to expand provincial health insurance to cover proven alternative therapies that are less expensive and invasive such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture. For healthy pre-natal care, we can improve access to midwifery services across Canada.

Healthy food choices and healthy local, organic foods are also part of improving the health of Canadians. The time bomb for health care costs of young people and children who consume a diet of processed and high calorie foods is a problem we can avoid through adopting healthier diets.

The post Focus on Prevention – “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” appeared first on Elizabeth May.

“It is equally common sense for our health care system to place greater emphasis on preventing disease and promoting healthy lifestyles. This is the best way to sustain our health care system over the longer term. Keeping people well, rather than treating them when they are sick, is common sense.”

– Roy Romanow, Future of Health Care in Canada, 2002

Governments keep telling Canadians how they are going to “fix” the health care system. Yet many problems are actually getting worse, including longer wait-lists for diagnosis and surgery, over-crowded emergency rooms, and increasing shortages of family doctors.

The state of our health is getting worse, too. One in five Canadian children now have asthma. Almost half of us face cancer at some time in our lives. There is an epidemic of obesity in adults and children, and along with this comes known increased risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and other serious health risks. Close to one million Canadians have been diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. Skyrocketing costs for pharmaceutical drugs have now eclipsed all other health care expenditures. (Drugs are, in fact, the fastest rising component in health care costs.)

Throwing more money to the provinces, as has been done by the last two governments, is not achieving concrete results. The 2004 First Ministers Health Accord (http://bit.ly/2004accord) committed $41 billion to health care system improvements, including $5.5 billion over 10 years to reduce wait times. Benchmarks were established in December 2005 in five key health care areas that have been prone to longer waiting times. So far, progress is mixed, even though reducing wait times was one of only five promises made by Stephen Harper in the 2006 campaign. This Health Accord expires in 2014.

As pressure built on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to set out the plan for federal-provincial negotiation of a renewed Health Accord, the Conservatives made a bold move. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty met with the provincial ministers in December 2011 and presented a “take it or leave it” offer.

The federal government has set out a financial formula until 2024. The current 6% per year increase will continue from $30 billion in 2013-14 growing to $38 billion by 2018-19. At that point, the funding formula for federal transfers to the provinces would shift to being tied to the rate of economic growth in each province. (The actual rate is called “nominal GDP,” a measure of GDP plus inflation.) BC Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was pleased with the certainty, while most provincial ministers were angry with the unilateral nature of the federal “offer.”

What I find most troubling is that the federal offer is also “no strings attached.” In other words, the federal government is washing its hands of insisting on national health care standards. Former Saskatchewan Premier and head of the 2002 Royal Commission on Health Care, Roy Romanow, expressed his concern that the federal “no strings attached” approach was “potentially dangerous for the future of Medicare in Canada.” (“Provinces get more autonomy to drive health care reform,” Globe and Mail, December 21, 2011.)

Where all players in health care expected that as the 2014 Health Accord reached its expiration date, there would be a transparent process to negotiate standards and goals in health care, the federal government has walked away from the process, leaving its money on the table.

In This Issue…

• Did You Know…
• What is the Single-Fastest Increasing Cost to the Health Care System?
• Riding Redistribution
• The Need for a National Mental Health Strategy
• Bill C-442: A National Lyme Disease Strategy
• What is Wrong With Moving to a Two-Tier Health Care System?
• Is the Aging Population Causing the Big Increase in Health Care Costs?
• What is the Role of the Federal Government?
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Award Ceremony
• Results from MarchNewsletter Survey
• Your Opinion Matters!
• Elizabeth May’s Health Care Solutions
• Does Spending More Money Solve Health Care Problems?
• Focus on Prevention – “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”

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