Q&A with Andre Picard: healthcare not on the 2008 campaign radar?

In this interview with The Change Foundation, Canada’s leading health reporter, Andre Picard laments the lack of real healthcare policy discussion in the 2008 federal campaign. Picard says medicare is a sacred cow and debate on healthcare tends to be rhetorical rather than substantive. He also points out key areas politicians should address including:
• pharmacare and catastrophic drug insurance
• lack of access to mental health services
• lack of accountability of the provinces when they receive cash/points transfers from Ottawa
• the shameful state of healthcare among First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, who are the direct responsibility of the federal government.

Read the print interview