Health care never strays far from the front pages, and with good reason. Hospitals are facing a nationwide crisis of overcrowding, threatening the stability of the acute care system. Negotiations between Ontario's doctors and the province have failed to produce a deal, and a new agreement is set to come from the hands of an arbitration board. We're still seeing an epidemic of opioid-related deaths across Canada. And nobody knows what to expect once recreational marijuana arrives in stores this summer, and all the public health consequences that might follow.
That being said, there's a lot of fretting that doctors' pay and perceived disrespect at the hands of the Wynne Liberals will be an important election issue...maybe even the election issue.
Bet your bottom dollar it won't. No matter how often doctors find themselves in the papers or on public television, they don't matter come election time. At most, doctors will come up in a single question during the televised debates, which are as scripted and free of substance as an episode of Fuller House.
How will health care make itself a part of the election campaign? There are always imponderables, those campaign trail gaffes and policy boners that can hijack an election - think of John Tory's ideas around funding faith-based schools, or the federal Conservatives' shameful "barbaric cultural practices" hotline. But without needing to consult oracles, it's a safe bet that the following aspects of health care will matter to Ontario voters in 2018:
1. The Liberals' record. What matters to doctors is largely invisible to the general population - over-regulation, fee cuts, bloated bureaucracy - but access to home care and long waits for treatment are not. Nor will the botched rollout of can't even agree on the translation of Spanish slurs, the chances of the profession uniting around a focused, coherent message are slim-to-none.
That said, the McGuinty-cum-Wynne Liberals must be held to account for their mismanagement of health care over the past fifteen years, and pressed to offer concrete solutions to the problems of their own making. Likewise, the opposition parties must be pushed to outline firm policy commitments, not coast on hollow talking points and attack-ad zingers. The health care system has severe, festering problems. Anybody that thinks tweaks and micromanagement will cut it going forward is willfully blind, and undeserving of forming a government.
That said, the McGuinty-cum-Wynne Liberals must be held to account for their mismanagement of health care over the past fifteen years, and pressed to offer concrete solutions to the problems of their own making. Likewise, the opposition parties must be pushed to outline firm policy commitments, not coast on hollow talking points and attack-ad zingers. The health care system has severe, festering problems. Anybody that thinks tweaks and micromanagement will cut it going forward is willfully blind, and undeserving of forming a government.
Ditulis
Unknown
—
Sunday, January 21, 2018
—
Add Comment
—
access,
doctors,
Family Medicine,
finance,
health care,
health policy,
home care,
mental health,
Ontario,
opioids,
politics,
regional health authorities
Belum ada tanggapan untuk "Health Care And The Ontario Election"
Post a Comment