For your information. dr November 19, 2007 Dear friends and members, To mark National Medicare Week, November 18-24, the Canadian Health Coalition and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives are launching a new book entitled Medicare: Facts, Myths, Problems and Promise. The book is based on contributions to a remarkable conference ? S.O.S. Medicare 2: Looking Forward. The conference, held at the University of Regina, was inspired by Tommy Douglas? Vision for the Future of Medicare and brought together an unprecedented cast of health care icons: Shirley Douglas, Monique Begin, and Tom Kent, to Allan Blakeney, Roy Romanow, Stephen Lewis and Robert McMurtry, MD. Contributors also include leading health policy experts, economists, doctors, nurses and people representing the whole spectrum health care providers. For anyone who cares about the future of Medicare, this book offers a unique source of reliable, independent information and analysis. At a time when ideologues and advocates of privatization capture much of the attention of the media and politicians, this collection is an invaluable source of information and ideas. Copies of Medicare: Facts, Myths, Problems and Promise are available from the CCPA for $29.95 each (plus GST, shipping and handling). Click here to order your copy. -- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 410-75 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7 tel: 613-563-1341 fax: 613-233-1458 http://www.policyalternatives.ca caw567 Preface: Bruce Campbell and Greg Marchildon 9 Part I: Tommy Douglas? Vision and the Future of Medicare 1. SOS Medicare: A (Cautionary) Tale of Two Conferences 19 Shirley Douglas 2. The Struggle ? at Home and in the World ? for Health Care as a Human Right 25 Stephen Lewis 3. The Douglas Legacy and the Future of Medicare 36 Greg Marchildon 4. Fulfilling the Douglas/Lloyd Vision 42 Allan E. Blakeney 5. The Canada Health Act: Lessons for Today and Tomorrow 46 Monique Bégin 6. Healthy Children First 50 Tom Kent 7. The Collective Action Problem 56 Robert McMurtry Part II:The International Context 8. Styles of Rationing Health Care: The United States vs. Canada 65 Uwe E. Reinhardt 9. How to Protect a Public Health Care System 82 Alan Maynard 10. The Truth about the Drug Companies 87 Marcia Angell 11. Market-based Health Care in the United States and its Lessons for Canada 91 Arnold S. Relman 12. Protecting Medicare from Foreign Commercial Interests 99 Scott Sinclair 13. Canada?s Single-payer Medicare: Role Model for Taiwan 106 May Tsung-Mei Cheng Part III: Privatization and the Principles of Medicare 14. Economic Myths and Political Realities: The Inequality Agenda and the Sustainability of Medicare 113 Robert G. Evans 15. Chaoulli?s Legacy for the Future of Canadian Health Care Policy 156 Colleen Flood 16. Bill 33:The Fallout from the Chaoulli Decision in Quebec and its Impact on Equity in Healthcare 192 Marie-Claude Prémont 17. P3 Hospitals and the Principles of Medicare 197 Steven Shrybman 18. Changing the Landscape in the Health Care Affordability Debate 212 Diana Gibson Part IV: Health Care Reforms: Pharmacare, Home, Community and Primary Care 19. Completing the Vision: Achieving the Second Stage of Medicare 221 Michael Rachlis 20. Health Human Resources ? A Nurse?s Perspective 243 Linda Silas 21. The Electronic Health Record:The Neglected Key to Saving Medicare 250 Steven Lewis 22. Health Care Reform As If Women Mattered 257 Pat Armstrong 23. Pharmacare: Equity, Efficiency, and Effectiveness ? We?ve Waited Long Enough. 262 Joel Lexchin 24. Federal Pharmacare: Prescription for an Ailing Federation? 268 Greg Marchildon 25. A Strategy for Mental Health 285 Patricia J. Martens 26. Home and Community Care in Canada:The Unfinished Policy 291 Judith Shamian 27. Completing the Vision: Prevention and Community Health Centres 297 France Gélinas Part V: Inequality and Social Determinants of Health 28. It?s About Equity and Going Upstream: Health For All 305 Monique Bégin 29. Poverty and Health: Implications for Health and Quality of Life 319 Dennis Raphael 30. Growing Inequality, Basic Needs, and Health 331 Armine Yalnizyan 31. People Are Dying for a Home 337 Cathy Crowe 32. Miyo-Mâhcihowin: Self-determination, Social Determinants, and Indigenous Health 342 Willie Ermine and Eber Hampton Part VI: Getting There from Here 33. Canada?s Shared Destiny and the Future of Medicare 351 Roy Romanow 34. Medicare as Mainstream Agenda: The Second Stage 367 Danielle Martin 35. The Wrong Kind of Rights:The Charter Threat to Medicare 371 Andrew Petter 36. It?s All About People 377 Elizabeth Ballerman 37. The Continental Deep Integration Threat 382 Maude Barlow 38. Talking Solutions 388 Marcy Cohen 39. A Political Agenda for Building Medicare?s Next Stage 393 Doris Grinspun Notes 404 Contributors 00 Index 00