Liberal Leadership Hopeful Bob Rae Unveils Health-Care Strategy
Posted on: Thursday, 7 September 2006, 15:00 CDT
TORONTO (CP) - Federal Liberal leadership hopeful Bob Rae is proposing a national catastrophic drug program to prevent patients from having to choose between their health and their bank balances.
The idea is the centrepiece of a six-point health-care strategy Rae unveiled today at a news conference in downtown Toronto.
Rae says the so-called Maple Leaf Drug Plan would build on existing provincial plans and cover Canadians who face catastrophic drug expenses not covered by the plan in their province.
Rae's other ideas include an accountability principle in the Canada Health Act, spending more on technology to ease wait times and increasing funding to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The former Ontario premier also says he would work with the provinces to alleviate a growing shortage of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and other health professionals.
His announcement comes one day after leadership rival Michael Ignatieff unveiled his own campaign platform at a splashy rally in Toronto.
"This is a realistic, co-operative strategy to improve the health of Canadians," said Rae, a former New Democrat who served as Ontario's premier from 1990 to 1994.
"Canadians need and deserve practical health care solutions and improvements to the system, which means getting beyond the ideological blinkers of the NDP and the empty rhetoric and inaction of the Harper government."
Source: Canadian Press
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