New book outlines the need to make healthcare a priority in Canada
Posted May 13, 2018 10:34 am.
Last Updated October 18, 2021 12:08 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Canada spends nearly half of its tax dollars on healthcare annually, yet the outcomes in our system don’t always seem to back up that investment. That is according to the author of a new book that calls for a wellness revolution in this country.
In “All Together Healthy,” Andrew MacLeod, BC Legislative Bureau Chief for The Tyee, argues every policy decision governments make should be based on whether or not it makes us healthier.
“Whether the question is about income-splitting or how taxes are collected or whether we support childcare… all those decisions need to be made from the point of view of will this make more people healthier or will it make them less healthy.”
MacLeod also outlines how health inequities are closely tied to social inequities and how as much as 75 per cent of a person’s overall health is determined by their social conditions.
Take diabetes as just one example. “There’s a very clear connection where the less money you make, the more likely you are to get diabetes and the more likely you are to do poorly as you live with the disease.”
Earlier this year, a study from the Fraser Institute suggested Canada didn’t have enough doctors to care for patients nation-wide.
The organization claims our country is 29th out of 33 high-income nations, with only 2.7 doctors per 1,000 people. A figure that is 20 per cent below the average for countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
