 | |
| Formation | May 2006 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit |
| Purpose | Advocacy |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
Executive Director | Katie Arnup |
| Website | www |
Canadian Doctors for Medicare is a Canadian non-profit advocacy organization that was founded in Toronto in 2006. The organization argues against the privatization of healthcare.
Canadian Doctors for Medicare is based in Toronto, Ontario. [1]
The organization's first director was Danielle Martin, [2] as of 2023, the executive director is Katie Arnup. [3]
In 2014, the governing board had 17 members, all of them physicians. [2] Board members include Jasmine Gite, [4] and Amit Arya. [5] Board chairs have included Danielle Martin, followed by Monika Dutt, then Joel Lexchin. [6] [2] The organization has had over 1,000 members since 2006. [2]
The organization was founded in May 2006. [2] In 2014, the organization advocated against the introduction of a formal system to facilitate medical tourism in Ontario. [7]
The organization advocates against the privatization of healthcare in Canada. [8] It organized the first Canadian Doctors for Medicare Summit in 2022. [4]
Medicare is an unofficial designation used to refer to the publicly funded single-payer healthcare system of Canada. Canada's health care system consists of 13 provincial and territorial health insurance plans, which provide universal healthcare coverage to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and depending on the province or territory, certain temporary residents. The systems are individually administered on a provincial or territorial basis, within guidelines set by the federal government. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 in 2022.
The Canadian Medical Association is a national, voluntary association of physicians and medical learners that advocates on national health matters. Its primary mandate is to drive positive change in health care by advocating on key health issues facing doctors and their patients.
A comparison of the healthcare systems in Canada and the United States is often made by government, public health and public policy analysts. The two countries had similar healthcare systems before Canada changed its system in the 1960s and 1970s. The United States spends much more money on healthcare than Canada, on both a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP. In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in Canada was US$3,678; in the U.S., US$6,714. The U.S. spent 15.3% of GDP on healthcare in that year; Canada spent 10.0%. In 2006, 70% of healthcare spending in Canada was financed by government, versus 46% in the United States. Total government spending per capita in the U.S. on healthcare was 23% higher than Canadian government spending. U.S. government expenditure on healthcare was just under 83% of total Canadian spending.
Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984, and is universal. The 2002 Royal Commission, known as the Romanow Report, revealed that Canadians consider universal access to publicly funded health services as a "fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country."
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. The association's national headquarters are located in Barton, Australian Capital Territory, in addition to the offices of its branches in each of the states and territories in Australia.
Chaoulli v Quebec (AG) [2005] 1 S.C.R. 791, 2005 SCC 35, was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada of which the Court ruled that the Quebec Health Insurance Act and the Hospital Insurance Act prohibiting private medical insurance in the face of long wait times, up to 9 months, violated the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. In a 4 to 3 decision, the Court found the Acts violated Quebecers' right to life and security of person under the Quebec Charter. The ruling is binding only in Quebec. Three of the seven judges also found that the laws violated section seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. One judge did not rule on the Canadian Charter. The result was a 3–3 tie on the question of the Canadian Charter, so Chaoulli decision does not apply to any other province.
The College of Family Physicians of Canada is a professional association and the legal certifying body for the practice of family medicine in Canada. This national organization of family physicians was founded in 1954 and incorporated in 1968. Although membership is not mandatory to practice medicine, it currently numbers over 38,000 members. Members of the CFPC belong to the national College, as well as to their provincial or territorial chapters. The CFPC uses both English and French as official communication languages.
Patient advocacy is a process in health care concerned with advocacy for patients, survivors, and caregivers. The patient advocate may be an individual or an organization, concerned with healthcare standards or with one specific group of disorders. The terms patient advocate and patient advocacy can refer both to individual advocates providing services that organizations also provide, and to organizations whose functions extend to individual patients. Some patient advocates are independent and some work for the organizations that are directly responsible for the patient's care.
The Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization that provides legal defense, liability protection, and risk-management education for physicians in Canada. The CMPA also provides compensation to patients and their families proven to have been harmed by negligent medical care. In 2016, the CMPA's membership list totaled 95,691 physicians.
Hospitals in Canada were initially places which cared for the poor as those with higher socioeconomic status were cared for at home. In Quebec during the 18th century, a series of charitable institutions, many set up by Catholic religious orders, provided such care.
Choosing Wisely is a United States-based health educational campaign, led by the ABIM Foundation, about unnecessary health care.
Danielle Martin is a Canadian physician, health care administrator and an associate professor at the University of Toronto.
Physicians and surgeons play an important role in the provision of health care in Canada. They are responsible for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. As Canadian medical schools solely offer the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees, these represent the degrees held by the vast majority of physicians and surgeons in Canada, though some have a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) from the United States or Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Europe.
Cambie Surgeries Corporation v. British Columbia [2020 BCSC 1310] was a high-profile, multi-year Supreme Court of British Columbia (BCSC) case brought by Brian Day, an advocate for private healthcare, against the province of British Columbia. Day, who runs the Vancouver-based private clinic Cambie Surgery Centre, challenged the sections of the province's Medicare Protection Act (MPA) that prevent private practitioners from charging patients who are enrolled in Canada's universal healthcare system for services available in that system. The lawsuit stated that the MPA was unconstitutional because it violated sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Anna Banerji M.D., O. Ont. is an academic, a Toronto infectious disease doctor, tropical disease specialist, pediatrician, public health specialist and an activist. She is the founder and chair of both the North American Refugee Health Conference in Canada, the Indigenous Health Conference and the co-founder of the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers. She was awarded the Dr Peter Bryce Henderson for her advocacy for Indigenous children.
Paul Caulford is a Canadian advocate, academic, and family doctor in Scarborough, Toronto who provides free healthcare to refugees, undocumented migrants and other newcomers who are unable to get healthcare through the formal channels.
The Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Health Care is a healthcare clinic in Scarborough, Toronto, that provides free healthcare to refugee and immigrants.
James Maskalyk is a Canadian emergency medicine physician, author, and meditation teacher.
Monika Dutt is a Nova Scotia based Canadian medical doctor, and a past chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare. She is known for taking advocacy stances on social justice matters. She is a specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine and also in Family Medicine.
