Harper’s sabotaging Canada’s public health care

[Oscar]

Harper’s sabotaging Canada’s public health care

[ http://www.leadnow.ca/defend-health-care/ ]

April 1, 2014

Today, the Harper Conservatives had their first chance to make major changes to Canada’s health care since getting a majority government, and they launched a brutal sneak attack: they just sabotaged the Health Accord that protects equal care for all Canadians, and they’re cutting your public health funding by $36 billion.[1]

It’s the start of Harper’s long-term plan to destroy our public health care system, and we have to stop it.

Click here to send a message: stop the sabotage! – Then forward this to everyone to raise the alarm.

Prime Minister Harper has always wanted to replace public care with an American-style for-profit system. He made his career by leading the National Citizen’s Coalition, an organization founded by a wealthy insurance broker determined to destroy Canada’s medicare.[2]

But here’s the thing – he knows that 94% of Canadians, including most conservatives, support national public health care.[3] That’s why he’s trying to sabotage the system quietly by cutting $36 billion over 10 years and breaking the pact that all Canadians should get equal care, no matter what province you live in.[4]

Harper knows that if Canadians learn about this, he could lose the next election. We need to raise the alarm, right now, before the worst damage is done to force this government to make a new deal.

Please click here to send a message to your Member of Parliament, Prime Minister Harper, and Health Minister Rona Ambrose: Stop the sabotage! Defend Canada’s public health care now. – Then share this with everyone.

The Canada Health Accord is the deal between the federal government and the provinces that ensures proper funding, equal access, and high standards for the health care we all rely on.

By pulling out of the agreement, cutting billions in transfers, and letting standards fall across the country, Prime Minister Harper will undermine our public health system. If he succeeds, cash-starved provinces will face intense pressure to let America’s titanic for-profit companies buy into our system and give us worse care for higher prices.[5]

Don’t let him get away with it. Click here to send a message to your MP, Health Minister and PM Harper, telling them to stop the sabotage and defend our national public health care now.

The US spends almost twice as much money on its private system as Canada, for much worse results.[6] In Canada, we can meet the challenge of providing health care to an aging population with public innovations like a national pharmacare program that would save Canadians $10.9 billion per year.[7]

We can do it, but first we need a new deal with provinces that defends our health care from funding cuts, ensures equal access across Canada, and supports public innovation to meet today’s challenges. Click here to send your message and defend Canada’s health care:
[ http://www.leadnow.ca/defend-health-care ]

The Leadnow community and our allies have consistently ranked defending and strengthening Canada’s public health care system as a top priority in face-to-face gatherings and surveys. Canadians are right to be proud of our public health care. Let’s stop the sabotage and defend it together.

Thanks for all you do.

With hope and respect,
Jamie, Matthew, Sanna, Stefan, Julia, Rodrigo and the whole Leadnow.ca team

Sources

[1] - Medicare defenders set to protest as Health Accord expires - The Globe and Mail
[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/hea ... e17729509/ ]

[2] - Dr. Harper's New and Improved Medicare - Murray Dobbin
[ http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/04/16/dr-ha ... -medicare/ ]

[3] - Support for public health care soars - Newswire.ca
[ http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/884001/ ... -solutions ]

[4] - Tories deliver a hollow boast on health care spending- The Globe and Mail
[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/hea ... e11024546/ ]

[5] - A systematic review of studies comparing health outcomes in Canada and the United States - OpenMedicine.ca
[ http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/8/1 ]

[6] - Keeping Health Care Afloat - The Milken INstitute Review, Princeton
[ https://www.princeton.edu/~reinhard/pdf ... s%20US.pdf ]

[7] - Campaign for a national drug plan - Pharmacare
[ http://pharmacarenow.ca ]