T1-60

In reply to Ishmael http://cmatalks.blogspot.com/2010/12/t1-3.html

yes, you have very good points. A lot of them however cannot be addressed by the CMA. Unless of course they recommend a reduction in Health funding to allow an increase in other relevant areas for health status that do not include clinicians or medical services.

Your list: Some are educational policies, others are social programing, then there is food/corporate taxation and environmental policy. Right now we do not appear to have the political will irequired to provide this shift in funding or policy. For example, David Butler-Jones (Public Health Agency) submitted a report last year to the federal government endorsing the social determinants of health- it did not see the light of day. Why? Politically unpalatable.

I think you are bang on for the path to a sustainable society and with it a sustainable health care system due to reduced usage. It is a matter of convincing politicians to implement the financial shift of funding from health care to other important areas that also influence health status. I say shifting as health care consumes the lion's share of funding in all provinces. We have a finite amount of resources and most other departments have had reductions due to increased spending for health care.

http://www.healthcaretransformation.ca/en/topics/view/id/1#comment-60