21 min listen
The myth of universal health care in Canada
FromThe Decibel
ratings:
Length:
18 minutes
Released:
Apr 6, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
As we enter the sixth wave of COVID-19, hospitals are bracing for yet another surge. After two years of weathering wave after wave, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are “burnt to a crisp,” as one Hamilton, Ont. doctor put it. The problems with Canada’s hospitals – from surgery backlogs, to “hallway medicine,” to staffing shortages – stretch back long before the pandemic.Globe and Mail investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle set out with reporter Tom Cardoso to find why Canadian hospitals were so poorly equipped to handle an influx of patients. What she found, Robyn explains, is how the very foundation of Canada’s universal health care system led to the problems that plague it today.
Released:
Apr 6, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Thinking through Quebec’s unvaxxed tax: Quebec is the first jurisdiction in Canada to propose a ‘health contribution’ tax for people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This has sparked a debate about whether some government pandemic measures are going too far into the realm of being punitive. Dr. Devon Greyson, an assistant professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, has been studying vaccine hesitancy since 2015. They break down the ethical considerations of this controversial piece of proposed public health policy. Editor’s note: An earlier version of this text misidentified Dr. Greyson as an associate professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. by The Decibel