Public health care when we need it, whoever we are, wherever we are.

Everyone deserves to get the care they need, when they they need it without wondering how they’ll pay for it, if their local emergency room will be open or if they’ll face discrimination when they seek help. That means investing in front line health care services, working with communities to set priorities and deliver care, and committing to the idea that everyone, regardless of who they are and where they live, deserves health care.

People over profits.

For-profit health care comes in many forms: private surgical clinics (including eye surgery clinics), private diagnostic tests like MRIs, for-profit long-term care facilities, corporate owned virtual care platforms, P3 financing schemes for hospitals. What they all have in common is that they take public money and turn it into private profits while making health care worse for everyone by taking valuable resources out of the public system.

Address the causes of illness.

In order to address the health care crisis in Nova Scotia we need to deal with the reasons why people get sick in the first place. It’s not personal choices or luck that drive illness - it’s what experts call the “social determinants of health.” These include social and economic factors like poverty, disability, unequal distribution of government services, a lack of affordable housing, colonialism, racism, dangerous work conditions, criminalization, homophobia and transphobia, food insecurity, and environmental degradation.

Resources to learn more

Primary care and the family doctor waitlist in Nova Scotia - A CBC radio interview with out provincial coordinator on the primary care crisis in Nova Scotia.

How anti-Black racism affects the health of Nova Scotians of African descent - an interview with local experts on the intersection of race and health.

Why does private health care lengthen wait times? - A short video from the Canadian Health Coalition.

What are the social determinants of health? - A primer from the Canadian Public Health Association.

A National Public Drug Plan for All - A policy brief by Julie White on why Canada needs universal pharmacare and what it could look like.