Trump trumping everything—even healthcare

U.S. President Donald Trump and his recent policies could have a huge negative impact on the health of Canadians and this will be a big but indirect issue during the next federal election campaign.That was a prediction that could be drawn from a recent virtual town hall held by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) on March 3 focusing on the next federal election and CMA advocacy efforts.“It’s often difficult to get healthcare into the headlines during a federal election campaign,” said CMA CEO Alex Munter in introducing the virtual town hall.He and pollster David Coletto, who spoke at the meeting, both pointed to the recent provincial election in Ontario as a demonstration of how healthcare failed to make much of a dent into the public consciousness at this time despite attempts by opposition parties to do so.Read: Pat Rich: With democracy threatened, engagement with political system a must: Senator OslerEven the CMA event itself was dominated by negative references to Trump and the threatened implementation of tariffs which occurred just hours after the town hall concluded.However, CMA President Dr. Joss Reimer did enumerate what the CMA is doing on national health issues and how it plans to position itself as a major advocate during the upcoming federal election. She noted that even the issue of tariffs themselves is a major health concern.She pointed out that since income is the primary social determinant of health and if tariffs and other policy measures implemented by Trump negatively impact the income of Canadians this will affect the health of many.“When we see threats to the economy, when we see threats to people’s personal income, when we see that cost of living is the number one concern for Canadians, all of those have major health implications,” Dr. Reimer said. “When tariffs come in, we can anticipate that we’re going to see a worsening of health for Canadians and an increased burden of need on the health system. We’re going to have increased demand with potentially decreased services.”A solid line was also drawn between moves by the Trump administration to cutting funding for U.S. health organizations and initiatives and the current CMA preoccupation with tackling mis- and disinformation in healthcare. Dr. Reimer said we are currently witnessing “the dismantling of scientific institutions with a total disregard for clinical knowledge, for expertise, and all of the aspects that are at the root of quality health and healthcare.“We are experiencing intense polarization, intense divisiveness, and Canadians, at the same time as all this is going on, we are continuing to be bombarded by false information online,” she said.Munter also noted how the spread of misinformation by the Trump government has had predictable outcomes such as an increase in infectious diseases. “Trumpism and the alliance between Trump and misinformation-promoting tech platforms is, you know, the very significant threat to health and the healthcare system.”Pat Rich is a Canadian health journalist and former editor of the Medical Post. This item originally appeared on his blog site.

Trump trumping everything—even healthcare

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