Health Care ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links

Aug

11

2017

Assorted content to end your week. – Noah Smith offers a reminder that market principles don’t work for everything. And Amelie Quesnel-Vallee and Miles Taylor note that in the health sector in particular, the use of private providers to supplement an underfunded public system is leading to inequitable disparities in accessibility. – Andrew Jackson challenges ...

Accidental Deliberations: New column day

Aug

10

2017

Here, on Yvonne Boyer and Judith Bartlett’s report (PDF) on how Indigenous women were pushed toward tubal ligations within the Saskatoon Health Region – and how the now-departing Brad Wall bears responsibility to decide whether the system discrimination they identified will be dealt with. For further reading…– I’ve previously linked to the Star’s editorial on ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links

Aug

7

2017

Assorted content to start your week. – Paul Buchheit discusses the U.S.’ combination of increasing inequality, systematic tax evasion and false promises of social mobility. Michael Savage reports that even UK Cons are recognizing that a refusal to ensure that the rich pay their fair share makes for bad politics. And Steven Klees highlights how ...

THE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: WHEN A CAREGIVER GOT CANCER

Aug

3

2017

Paid or unpaid, caregivers are never supposed to get sick, right? But sometimes we do. Sue Robins owns a health care communications company and she also happens to be the mother of a young man with Down Syndrome. Robins used to blog about caring for her son and his encounters with the health care system. But that ...

A Puff of Absurdity: Chest Tattoo with a Side of Lymphedema

Jul

29

2017

As a means of healing and prettying up my mastectomy scars, I looked forward to a chest tattoo. I envisioned never wearing a bathing suit top again! After my mastectomy, I asked my surgeon about it. His only concern was that it wouldn’t look good when I finally gave in and got reconstruction. But, if ...

Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links

Jul

28

2017

Assorted content to end your week. – Joseph Stiglitz offers a reminder that tax giveaways to the rich and the corporate sector accomplish zero – or worse – when it comes to economic development: If corporate tax reform happens at all, it will be a hodge-podge brokered behind closed doors. More likely is a token ...

Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links

Jul

27

2017

This and that for your Thursday reading. – Dennis Howlett writes that a properly designed and fair tax system can reduce inequality both by ensuring support for the people with the least, and ensuring that the people capable of contributing the most actually do so: We need to tackle inequality at both ends of the ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links

Jul

24

2017

Assorted content to start your week. – The Star’s editorial board calls for Canada to take its poor ranking among other developed countries as a prod to action in building a more secure and equitable health care system. And Abdullah Shihipar discusses the need for access to dental care in particular. – Mike Crawley reports ...

Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links

Jul

19

2017

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mike Konczal responds to a pathetic attempt to drain the word “neoliberal” of all meaning (which seems to have won favour with Canadian Libs desperately trying to disassociate themselves from their own governing ideology) by discussing its application in both the political and economic spheres. And Steven Hall ...

Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links

Jul

18

2017

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tom Parkin writes that the economic boost provided by an expanded child benefit offers another indication of how action to fight poverty ultimately helps everybody. And Dylan Matthews discusses how much more could be done through a well-designed basic income – while recognizing the pitfalls of pale ...

Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links

Jun

18

2017

This and that for your Sunday reading. – Nina Shapiro comments on the price of privatizing public goods. And George Monbiot weighs in on how the Grenfell Tower fire confirms that what corporatist politicians deride as “red tape” is in fact vital protection for people: For years successive governments have built what they call a ...

Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links

Jun

17

2017

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Danny Dorling sets out how a more equal society leads to benefits for everybody. And Annie Lowrey discusses Richard Reeves’ take on the separation between the top 20% of the income spectrum and the rest of the U.S. – particularly in preventing social mobility. – Meagan Gilmore points ...

Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links

Jun

14

2017

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Ellie Mae O’Hagan writes about Jeremy Corbyn’s much-needed work in addressing the loss of hope by young people in the UK: For the first time in a good few years, I’ve stopped worrying about money. I can imagine living somewhere nice without having to move to another country. ...

A Puff of Absurdity: Lymphedema: A Research Study Overview

Jun

11

2017

I’m cancer free, but very anxious about lymphedema. It’s become a bit of an obsession, so, for anyone googling it, here are all the studies that I really should have researched before consenting to the Axilliary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND) surgery that half my doctors told me I didn’t need, and the other half convinced ...

Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links

Jun

11

2017

This and that for your Sunday reading. – David MacDonald discusses the need to start tackling some of Canada’s most expensive and least justifiable tax handouts to the rich: The richest 10 per cent of Canadians enjoy an average of $20,500 a year in tax exemptions, credits, and other loopholes. That’s $6,000 more than in ...

Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links

Jun

8

2017

This and that for your Thursday reading. – Christopher Hoy reminds us that as much as people are already outraged by inequality, we tend to underestimate its severity. And Faiza Shaheen writes about the dangers of unchecked inequality which erodes social bonds. – Meanwhile, Andrea Hopkins discusses how Canadians are taking significant financial risks in ...

Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links

May

23

2017

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Patrick Butler writes about the increasing number of UK families mired in poverty and insecure housing even with one or more people working. And Ali Monceaux and Daniel Najarian discuss the importance of a fair minimum wage in providing people with a basic standard of living. – ...

A Puff of Absurdity: On Mistakes

May

20

2017

Okay, so maybe just one more post about doctors… I know it’s awfully boring. The last one was in play format to make it more palatable. But it’s tedious because I feel so middle class to just now awaken to the fact that the health care system is in crisis. My ignorance is embarrassing. (So ...

Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links

May

20

2017

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dalia Marin argues that in order to avoid corporate dominance over citizens and workers around the globe, we should be developing international competition policies and systems to combat the concentration of wealth: Two forces in today’s digital economy are driving the global decline in labor’s share of total ...

Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links

May

18

2017

This and that for your Thursday reading. – Owen Jones discusses UK Labour’s true social democratic platform as a model for progressive parties around the globe. And Simon Wren-Lewis points out that contrary to the spin of opponents and uninformed presumptions of much of the media, Labour’s plan is entirely affordable. – Meanwhile, as part ...

A Puff of Absurdity: Another Trip to ER

May

18

2017

Me: So, I have letter from my doctor. I was hoping that would make things go faster. It still took two full hours to get to this point, though. Triage Nurse: I wish family doctors would come to the hospital once in a while. They have no idea how things work here. A letter doesn’t ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links

May

8

2017

Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Dean Baker notes that a reduction in required work time could go a long way toward ensuring that workers share in productivity gains. – Meanwhile, Max Ehrenfreund writes about new research on the state of the U.S.’ middle class – showing that lifetime wage earnings peaked for people ...

My journey with AIDS…and more!: The flight was brief, the landing less than graceful

May

2

2017

I was on my way for a hair-cut this morning when, at the corner of Sherbourne and Gerrard Streets, I momentarily took flight. Picture Peter Pan on his worst day. While still airborne I thought of Craig, of the 24th of April, 2007. But I was still conscious. I managed to land without breaking my ...

Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links

Apr

25

2017

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andre Picard talks to the Current about the need to start demanding more from our universal health care system, rather than being persuaded to put up with less. And Canadian Doctors for Medicare offers its support to the Ontario NDP’s pharmacare plan, while Chris Selley writes that ...

The Progressive Economics Forum: A Response to the 2017 Saskatchewan Budget

Apr

23

2017

I have an opinion piece on Saskatchewan’s recent budget in the Regina Leader-Post. Points raised in the opinion piece include the following: -Reductions in personal and corporate income taxes help the rich more than the poor (and this budget cut both personal and corporate income taxes). -Increases in sales tax hurt the poor more than ...