Memoirs on medicare from new NYC book

Next Year Country Books

Below is a chapter from NYC's latest book, No Expectations: A Memoir by James N. McCrorie.

NO EXPECTATIONS is a brief memoir of a Montreal working class kid, the son of Scottish immigrants, who lowered his sights, abandoning a lively ambition to either go to sea or become a railroader, and settling for the life of an academic. The choice did not keep him out of some of the historical struggles of his time, including the fight for medicare in Saskatchewan in 1962, the wild cat strike of 1964, when CN railroaders shut down the railroad, paralyzing the nation, and university reform, which dominated campus life throughout the 1970s.

You can purchase  this book HERE.

Chapter 10 MEDICARE

.It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was thrilled by my research work. The whimsical thought of railroading was banished from my mind. I was travelling all over the province, meeting and interviewing all manner of farm men and women, becoming acquainted with the intriguing history of the province, marveling at how so many men and women, many non-English speaking when they arrived, dared to settle this formidable semi arid desert and create upon the land one of the most enlightened and progressive human communities in Canada.

There was another consideration. I was falling in love with this semi arid desert. True. I missed Montreal, the St. Lawrence River valley and the Canadian Shield. (I was yet to discover that the shield was part of the far north of the province; a region I was yet to visit.) But the variety and complexity of the plains and the parkland began to attract me. Experience and acquaintanceship were undermining my initial displeasure with my new geographical surroundings.

Medicare booklet promotional video

Next Year Country Books

 

New NYC Booklet on Medicare

NYC

Medicare's Birth in Saskatchewan: 50th Anniversary of a People's Victory

The two articles re-published in this pamphlet were written to address the 50th anniversary of North America's first public healthcare system for all citizens initiated in Saskatchewan on July 1, 1962.

We were researching the prolific resources and books available on the subject in preparation for a forthcoming book on the fight for medicare in Saskatchewan and wanted to raise the profile of the anniversary as the actual anniversary approached.

This pamphlet is intended as a short and quick resource for labour and health care activists as we celebrate 50 years of medicare.

- Lorne Brown, Doug Taylor

Purchase HERE.

Coming soon!

Next Year Country Books

Introduction

The two articles re-published in this pamphlet were written to address the 50^th anniversary of North America’s first public healthcare system for all citizens initiated in Saskatchewan on July 1, 1962.

We were researching the prolific resources and books available on the subject in preparation for a forthcoming book on the fight for medicare in Saskatchewan and wanted to raise the profile of the anniversary as the actual anniversary approached.

This pamphlet is intended as a short and quick resource for labour and health care activists as we celebrate 50 years of medicare.

"Medicare's 50th Anniversary" complete blog book

NYC
October 3, 2012

The second and final volume of this blog in book form can now be read below. You can also download the book or embed it. Most links should work.

Open publication - Free publishing - More canada

Below is the first volume.

Open publication - Free publishing - More ccf

Medicare's 50th Anniversary Signing Off

NYC
September 4, 2012

The 50th anniversary of medicare's fiery birth here in Saskatchewan has now come and gone.

The Saskatchewan labour movement, the Saskatchewan Health Coalition, community clinics, the Saskatchewan CCPA, the provincial NDP and others ensured that is was well-marked with lessons learned from the historic battle in 1962.

I hope this site has provided an useful resource for those advocating for defending and improving Canada's public health care system.

The site will be left up for as long as Google lets blogs remain dormant.

Please visit the sites listed on the right of this blog for updates for the continuing fight to ensure health care for all, in Canada and elsewhere.

Please also visit the articles published in Briarpatch magazine and Canadian Dimension written by Dr. Lorne Brown and myself relating to the 50th anniversary.

Same Fight, New Foes

The Birth of Medicare: From Saskatchewan’s breakthrough to Canada‑wide coverage

Thank you all for your comments and spreading the word.

Doug Taylor

Next Year Counrty

272 billion reasons to fear privatization

Defending Public Healthcare
Notes from Leftwords for the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions

August 22, 2012

Below is a list of the 11 US health corporations on the Fortune 500 list. They had a combined revenue of approximately $272 billion in 2010. They make about $15 billion in profits.

Trying to reform America's largely for-profit health care system is bound to come up against these interests. With such large revenue streams they have incredible power and resources to divert health care reform to match their own interests. They have (literally) billions of reasons to do so.

Their influence has not led to good results. The privatized American system is far and away the most expensive health care system in the world. Despite this, tens of millions of Americans have no health care insurance and tens of millions more have inadequate health care insurance.

If Canada let's more and more corporations into our health care system, we will more and more face the same corporate interests able and willing to push health care in the same direction that corporate health care pushes the American system.

			Revenues		Profits
Rank	Company	Fortune 500 rank	$ millions	% change from 2010	$ millions	% change from 2010
1	UnitedHealth Group	22	101,862.0	8.2	5,142.0	11.0
2	WellPoint	45	60,710.7	3.2	2,646.7	-8.3
3	Humana	79	36,832.0	8.8	1,419.0	29.1
4	Aetna	89	33,779.8	-1.4	1,985.7	12.4
5	Cigna	130	21,998.0	3.5	1,327.0	-1.3
6	Coventry Health Care	219	12,186.7	5.2	543.1	23.8
7	Health Net	221	11,901.0	-12.6	72.1	-64.7
8	Amerigroup	385	6,318.4	8.8	195.6	-28.4
9	WellCare Health Plans	401	6,106.9	12.3	264.2	N.A.
10	Centene	453	5,340.6	19.5	111.2	17.3
11	Molina Healthcare	500	4,769.9	16.7	20.8	-62.1

Issue date: May 21, 2012

Opinion: Time to fight for universal Pharmacare

A universal program would save Canadians up to $10 billion a year, some estimate

By Steve Morgan

The Vancouver Sun

August 20, 2012

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with the health and immigration ministers, tried to justify cutting refugee health coverage in Canada they argued it was about fairness. Providing prescription drug coverage to refugees was unfair, they claimed, because other Canadians do not have such coverage. They were at least partly right.

As a country, we provide universal access to medically necessary hospital care, diagnostic tests and physician services based solely on need. It’s a point of national pride. But Canadian “medicare” — as it is affectionately known — ends as soon as a patient is given a prescription to fill.

Provincial drug plans cover only limited populations, such as seniors or social assistance recipients, or limited costs (such as costs exceeding “catastrophic” deductibles). Private drug insurance is a perk not easily obtained by Canadians who are retired, self-employed or employees of small companies.

The patchwork of drug coverage in Canada has consequences that cost us all.

As medicare turns 50, let’s see the full vision implemented

Association of Ontario Health Centres

For AOHC, “medicare” is not just the inner workings of our health system. For us, medicare is an inspiring aspiration enshrined in Canada’s Health Act:

… to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial barriers and other barriers.

Financial barriers were addressed in medicare’s first stage – a publicly funded health insurance system designed to cover costs for doctors and hospitals. The second stage that Tommy Douglas and medicare’s other founders envisioned was intended to address the other barriers standing in the way of improved health and well-being – the root causes of poor health and out-of-date delivery of care.

Potential for billions of dollars in increased health cost if Canada-EU trade deal goes through

With Europe in a financial crisis the question remains how far is Canada willing to go to achieve a deal?

NUPGE News

16 Aug. 2012

While negotiators for the proposed Canada-European Union trade deal say that negotiations are in the final stages, serious concerns continue to be raised about some of the provisions expected to be in the agreement. It is reported that negotiators have reached agreement on 3/4s of the text but that there are some serious issues remaining to be addressed.

In particular, Canadian officials say there is a large gap in the negotiations over such issues as investment rules, financial services, and taxation. With Europe in a financial crisis the question remains how far is Canada willing to go to achieve a deal?

A number of commentators suggest the intellectual property chapter of the deal as being particularly difficult.

According to Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa's Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, the revelation that "provisions from the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement may sneak their way into CETA generated widespread headlines throughout Europe last month with politicians and activists expressing exasperation at the clumsy attempt to secretly revive an agreement that was roundly rejected by the European Parliament."

"The Canadian opposition to the chapter will come from European demands for patent reforms that could result in billions in additional health care costs due to higher pharmaceutical prices. The pharmaceutical demands are one of Europe's top priorities, but Canada has thus far refused to counter the EU proposals, creating a stalemate that has dragged on for years."

Canada's lead negotiator, Steve Verheul, says that the pharmaceutical industries demands won't be on the table during negotiations in September and October.

While big pharma insists that these reforms are needed to increase research and development investment in Canada, past experience suggests otherwise.

In the 1980s, the industry lobbied for patent reforms while promising to increase spending on research and development in Canada to 10 per cent of total sales by 1996. In reality, investment in drug research and development has declined and is as its lowest level since the 1987 reforms.

According to Geist, "given 25 years of mostly failed targets, the rational approach is to put a freeze on any further reforms at least until the industry lives up to its commitments. But with the agreement shrouded in secrecy - the government has steadfastly rejected calls to release the draft text - it appears that the major health care decision will be made behind closed doors with no public discussion, debate, or access to the official text."