Sex advice for pandemic prevention makes as much sense as implementing a security system while leaving the front door open
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control threw logic out the window with its “COVID-19 and Sex” advice. The document reveals contradiction, ignorance and hypocrisy. “If you’re feeling fine and have no symptoms of COVID-19, you can still have sex. If you’re feeling sick, skip sex,” it says. Thanks. “Not tonight, I have a headache,” is…
Delta Hospice Society has been locked in a lengthy fight with the health authority and the B.C. government, and has now lost its funding
Directors of a Vancouver-area hospice are considering their legal options after the B.C. government abruptly yanked its funding because it doesn’t permit medical assistance in dying (MAID) on the premises. And an Ottawa lawyer engaged by the Delta Hospice Society says B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix is simply wrong to claim the facility’s refusal to…
Over the past three decades, a small palliative care hospice in suburban Vancouver has raised millions of dollars and provided hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to benefit British Columbia’s health system. Now, the Delta Hospice Society must drop its refusal to provide medical assistance in dying (MAID) for qualifying patients in its care. Or…
The B.C. government’s claim in the court challenge to medicare that waiting lists don’t harm patients is nothing short of ridiculous
After years of political debate and public frustration, it seems the future of Canadian health care may now depend on the outcome of a decade-long legal battle that’s now in the hands of a B.C. Supreme Court justice. The plaintiffs are Dr. Brian Day, the private Cambie Surgery Centre and four British Columbians who have…
Instead of using scarce health-care dollars broadly, we should identify and support those Canadians falling through the cracks
Modern medicines can improve health outcomes and quality of life for those stricken with illness. As a result, policy-makers and ordinary Canadians are understandably concerned about patient access, affordability and insurance coverage for prescription drugs. However, recent calls for a national pharmacare program would have many believe that Canadians without private drug insurance – about…
Health tax will reduce wages and job opportunities, and further erode the province’s investment climate
By Charles Lammam and Taylor Jackson The Fraser Institute B.C. Finance Minister Carole James called Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums “unfair” and argued in a news release that her government’s replacement Employer Health Tax (EHT) is a “much fairer and progressive approach.” More broadly, Premier John Horgan government’s rhetoric about the new tax suggests it…We’ve seen decades of policy paralysis, with provinces constantly under threat of penalty for exploring policy options
By Bacchus Barua and Nadeem Esmail The Fraser Institute What makes health care in our country uniquely Canadian? It’s certainly not the goal to ensure universal access to care regardless of ability to pay. That goal is shared by at least 28 other high-income countries around the world. It’s certainly not that our universal health-care…
We should stop demonizing private clinics – and the patients who need them – and recognize that they're part of the solution
Last month, on the heels of a new threat from the British Columbia government to fine doctors who accept private payment for treatment already covered by the government-run health-care system, a trial – initiated more than seven years ago by a private Vancouver clinic led by Dr. Brian Day – resumed. Day, a former head…
Migrating seniors are likely to have paid most of their lifetime taxes in one province while consuming most of their health care in another
By Ashley Stedman and Jason Clemens The Fraser Institute An imbalance in health-care funding caused by the migration of seniors is penalizing British Columbia’s taxpayers. Canada’s health-care system has lots of problems, including its comparatively high cost, long wait times and middling performance among universal health-care countries. One largely overlooked problem is how Canada’s financing…
While some patients may be able to wait for treatment without suffering adverse consequences, many others may be in pain, unable to work or live full lives
Recent news reports about private payments for medically-necessary procedures in British Columbia tell an important story about a group of desperate people who are being oppressed by those in power. But based on headlines castigating “double-dipping” doctors conducting “illegal” activities, one might mistakenly think that physicians are the antagonists in the story. The real oppressor,…