{"id":5002,"date":"2016-10-17T14:58:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T18:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=5002"},"modified":"2021-07-21T15:56:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T19:56:59","slug":"release-as-health-ministers-from-across-canada-meet-to-negotiate-health-accord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-as-health-ministers-from-across-canada-meet-to-negotiate-health-accord\/","title":{"rendered":"RELEASE: <\/FONT>As Health Ministers from Across Canada Meet to Negotiate Health Accord"},"content":{"rendered":"

(October 17, 2016)<\/p>\n

Months of sparring in the media may come to an end this week as Health Ministers from across Canada meet to discuss a new Health Accord. This morning, representatives of the Canadian & Ontario Health Coalitions, Canadian Doctors for Medicare and the Council of Canadians gathered outside the King Edward hotel where Health Ministers from across Canada are meeting. The public interest advocates outlined the criteria required to protect and improve public health care for all Canadians in a new Health Accord and stated that they would measure any proposed deal against these criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians need our federal and provincial leaders to pull together to make concrete commitments to improve access to care for Canadians in a new Health Accord,\u201d noted Adrienne Silnicki, national coordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition. \u201cAn agreement to national standards is essential, including commitments by the provinces to eliminate user fees for patients in private clinics and to expand capacity in the public health care system. We are encouraged by the recent promise to abolish extra user fees for patients in Quebec. The same must be done in other provinces.\u201d<\/p>\n

For months, Provincial Premiers and the federal Health Minister have been at odds over funding, with the provinces calling for more and the federal government holding to the reduced funding formula put in place by the Harper government. Health Coalition advocates stressed that both sides need to come to the table with concrete commitments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth care needs do not go down in economic recessions,\u201d noted Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. \u201cA new Health Accord must include an improved commitment for federal dollars to meet the real health care needs of Canadians or we will see more service cuts and privatization.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the provinces are not off the hook either. \u201cProvinces must commit to spending federal funding on improving access and quality in public health care services and not shift them into general revenues while cutting and privatizing services,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

The Health Coalitions are calling for a new 10-year Accord to include the following:<\/p>\n