Discussions

Another federal budget cycle has passed without remedy for the biggest unresolved problem in our healthcare system. From 1980 to 2010, spending on pharmaceuticals used outside of hospitals in Canada grew more than 15-fold, from just under $2 billion to just over $30 billion. Yes, billion.

We need to have an adult conversation about healthcare. The healthcare "doomsday clock" is ticking and we don't have the luxury to put this off any longer. In order to help kickstart the conversation, I thought I'd weigh in with five things I'd do if I were in charge. These are by no means the only changes we need to consider implementing in order to save our healthcare system from imploding, but they'd be a good start. Doing nothing is not an option. We've already wasted too much time pretending everything's all right.