Standing Together for Medicare:
A Call to Care
From the Conference on the Future of Health Care, October 12, 2001, Ottawa
The peoples of Canada believe that Health Care is a fundamental right of every human being without distinction of race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, political belief, economic or social condition. Organizations representing millions of Canadians will mobilize to defend this right and to ensure that the following principles shape the future direction of the health are system:
1. The recognition of the highest attainment of health as a fundamental right throughout life and the necessity of preserving public health through active measures of promotion, prevention, and protection including such determinants as housing, food safety, income, education, environment, employment and peace.
2. The recognition of health care as a public good in which the few must not profit at the expense of the many. We affirm the need for a system of public health care which is organized on the basis of public administration, public insurance and the delivery of services on a public, not-for-profit basis.
3. Opposition to any commercialization and privatization of health. Therefore the federal government must negotiate a general exclusion of health services and health insurance from all trade agreements.
4. The need for the federal government to fully assume its responsibilities in respect to health, particularly by restoring and increasing federal transfers to levels sufficient to secure the integrity of the Canada Health Act, 1984.
5. The reaffirmation of the original vision of a truly comprehensive public health care system for Canadians providing a continuum of services. The next steps are the expansion of the public system to include a universal system of home and long-term care services and pharmacare.
6. The need to move away from a fee-for-service model towards a community-based, multi- disciplinary approach to the management, organization and delivery of services and care. Levels of services must be sufficient so that the burden of care does not fall on families, mainly women.
7. An accountable health care system through democratic participation and governance at all levels.
8. The recognition that health care workers are critical to the effective operation of the health care system and that decent wages, working conditions and training opportunities are essential to high quality care and the retention of health care workers.
Regardless of where we live, it is now imperative to reaffirm the social values we all share. These values must guide our collective choices for future social services and public health care. They are incompatible with the commercialization of all public services sought by the international trade agenda.
We believe these values must be adhered to by all governments in Canada, even though jurisdiction is largely a provincial or territorial matter. Therefore, the principles of the Canada Health Act should be enshrined in the laws of each province and territory.
We come together to commit to direct political action to ensure that governments throughout Canada protect and expand health care based on the foundation of the Canada Health Act, 1984. What stands between Medicare and its destruction are the peoples of Canada. Future generations depend on our vigilance.
If your organization would like to endorse this statement please contact the Canadian Health Coalition at info@healthcoalition.ca, telephone 613-521-3400 Ext. 311# or fax 613-521-9638.
PULSE Table of Contents
Provincewide Campaign to Defend Medicare
OHC Action Plan
Ontario Updates: Homecare, Private Cancer Treatment, Public Asset Sell-off, Homeless Survey
National Medicare Update: Kirby, Romanow and Mazankowski, provincial shenanigans and upcoming dates.
Standing Together for Medicare: A Call to Care