The report points out a fact most of us don’t know, but which should be obvious to us all: the federal government heavily subsidizes the private health insurance industry.

How so? Through the non-taxation of employer contributions to private employee health plans. The annual figure for that generous tax break for a profitable industry is $5 billion.

“Before asking how we can afford pharmacare, ask how every year we afford a $5 billion public subsidy for private insurance plans available to only some?”

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[–] 17 points 6 months ago (1 child)

don't worry about it... criminals like galen and loblaws will be there to sell you healthcare through some crappy scam company called maple, at a premium of course... and also forcing all your 'pc points discounted members only drugs' to be bought through them as well.

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    [–] 15 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    Carney’s government is maintaining its billions in health transfers to the provinces at their current level.

    The cuts are for:

    • the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC); 
    • the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases; 
    • the Emergency Treatment Fund, which provides assistance to Indigenous communities and municipalities to deal with the opioid crisis; 
    • a 10-year $6 billion federal contribution to home and community care; 
    • and the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy.

    Ramping down the COVID one is ok but the ones supporting indigenous community are questionable

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  • [–] 13 points 7 months ago

    The government does not have to actively axe most of these programs. With the exception of PHAC, they are all slated to expire this year or next.

    Carney’s team can simply let them all lapse, despite the continuing and acute health needs throughout the country. And as far as we can tell, letting them quietly expire seems to be the Carney team’s current plan.

    Federal programs with existing expiry dates is not the same as slashing, and the source is vibes, wtf. So someone bring this up in QP and so they can't "let them quietly expire", but there is no slashing going on.

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  • [–] 18 points 7 months ago (9 children)

    Might as well not have any public health at this point. What would be the difference?

    Man, fuck conservatism. And fuck this guy for further eroding our social safety net.

    "hE wAs ThE bEsT cHoIcE aT tHe TiMe" my ass. Even with Singh we wouldn't have had this kind of shit. And Trump would've had a meltdown having to deal with a brown skinned turban-wearing prime minister and it would have been hilarious.

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  • [–] 16 points 7 months ago* (8 children)

    Jagmeet simply did not have the support to remotely have a chance to win instead of PP or Carney. That's the context in which Carney "was the best choice at the time." Not much else. I agree we'd been better off with Jagmeet.

    I think things would shake out differently in a couple of years with Avi's NDP on the docket. Perhaps not an NDP gov't but I think we'd get significantly more seats than the last election.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    I have a lot of hope riding on Avi Lewis.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago* (6 children)

    Same. If you have some money for fun or time - give him some. Only if you have it.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    I joined the NDP just to be able to vote in the leadership election and to have a say in the future. I've already donated to Avi's campaign and donate to the NDP in general.

    More people should do the same. Get their voices heard and participate in our democracy.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Awesome. I joined for to support Rob but I'm happy to contribute to Avi's NDP too. If working people don't pay, someone else will. Then we're all like - but why does no one do what we want?? Unfortunately even fewer working people are able ro pay today than 5 or 10 yeara ago with the cost of living as it is, which means there's higher burden on the ones who can still afford it. I hope it'll be enough to get some power and get things done for the rest of us.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Avi and Rob are definitely on the same page. Actually all candidates, except for Heather McPhereson were very appealing to me. I don't know what it was about Heather. She seemed too... Liberal? Centrist? She was the candidate that would have continued the legacy of pulling the NDP to the center, I feel.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Don't just give money. Money is useful yes, because of the debt, but the Lewis campaign is already signalling this: they need strong social movements feeding into the riding associations. So, get in contact (or start!) your riding association, and find similarly minded people to start intervening in your union, or neighbourhood, or church or whatever. Lewis can't save us with a video and a speech alone.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    100% that's more important. I just personally can't give much time at the moment but I can give money. I hope that changes in the future. Perhaps when I get laid off and have all the time in the world because I can't find a job thanks to AI. 🥲

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago

    Eh, I'm on the fence on this kind of thing at this point.

    Personally, with the funding where it's currently at, I don't feel like I'm getting any real service -- it's gone significantly downhill since I was younger. I have family members who've waited years to get assistance with basic mobility issues, and being on wait lists for specialists for years seems super common in general.

    I also hear stories from people who work as nurses, about the abuses of the system that commonly goes on. There's one woman I know of who's earning well north of $100k per year in the Vancouver region, who typically works like 4-6 days per month, due to how easily the system is gamed by health care professionals. Heck, our lack of doctors is in part the result of the doctors union/associations refusing to put effort into certifying foreign trained doctors, because in part they want to keep the talent pool small and the revenue high.

    So I generally get this sense that the increased funding they've gotten over the years, has been completely wasted money. It's managed to get us a less efficient and less patient-oriented system, while allowing union based workers to enjoy ever increasing benefits while providing reduced service. Sorta like how increases in education funding doesn't help sort out the lack of teachers/marketable skills at graduation, it just pays the current teachers more to continue producing non-producing graduates in a flat market.

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