Thread by @CdnDrs4Medicare

On this day, 60 years ago, #Medicare was born in Saskatchewan under the leadership of Premier Tommy Douglas, making it the first universal, comprehensive, single-payer insurance system in North America. A🧵

The decision was met with fierce opposition from the media, doctors, and medical organizations, including the CPSS, CMA, and AMA. It also led to the infamous doctor's strike that lasted 23 days.
thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sas…

The federal government followed Saskatchewan’s example and passed the Medical Care Act in 1966. Within 6 years, all provinces and territories had universal health care.

In 1984, the Canada Health Act was passed, which outlines the 5 principles that we take pride in today:
1) Universality
2) Portability
3) Accessibility
4) Comprehensiveness
5) Public administration

Underlying those principles is the fundamental idea that access to healthcare should be based on need, and not ability to pay. Since the birth of Medicare, no Canadian has had to worry about paying for a doctor's visit or an admission to the hospital.

But rearranging financing of healthcare was only the first step in Douglas' vision. The second was to reorganize delivery of care and extend the plan beyond hospitals and physicians.

Douglas proposed that Medicare should eventually include publicly-financed vision care, #dentalcare, and #pharmacare. Sadly, 60 years later we have still not achieved his vision.

CDM was founded by @docdanielle with the idea that a high-quality, equitable, sustainable health system - built on the best available evidence - is the highest expression of Canadians caring for one another.

In contrast to our predecessors who opposed Medicare, CDM provides a voice for Canadian doctors who want to strengthen and improve Canada's universal publicly-funded health care system.

We advocate for innovations in treatment and prevention services that are evidence-based and improve access, quality, equity and sustainability. We advocate for #BetterMedicare.

We advocate for universal public #pharmacare because it has been shown to be the most efficient and equitable way for Canadians to access life-saving medications. Check out our primer: d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cdm/pages/106/…

Numerous reports have reiterated again and again the importance of national pharmacare, yet we have made only tiny steps in its implementation

The recent Liberal-NDP Supply and Confidence Agreement is yet another step towards publicly-funded pharmacare and dental care. See our position statement written by @HasanMSheikh and @Thara_J_Kumar on the importance of accessible dental care
d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cdm/pages/106/…

Alarmingly, right now we are seeing both the corporatization of healthcare services & calls for privately-financed health care across the country - especially in BC, AB & ON. Both threaten to undo the decades of work done to strengthen our publicly-funded health care system.

On the 60th anniversary of Medicare, let's reflect on its successes and the millions of lives it has saved. While we still have ways to go, the solution to our health inequities is to strengthen our publicly-funded system. #BetterMedicare

If you’re a medical student, resident or physician, consider joining CDM to be a part of our movement for #BetterMedicare. canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/join