BC Decision Affecting Medicare is “Extremely Short Sighted”- “Sentences Canadians To Many More Years of Mediocrity — The Inconvenient Truth Is That Canada’s Health Care System Is In Poor Health”

Stephen Skyvington is one of Canada’s pre-eminent political pundits and health care policy experts. His columns regularly appear in newspapers across Canada and often appears on Tallk radio across the country, and he is well known to listeners of Toronto’s Newstalk 1010. His recent book, published in 2019, “This May Hurt a Bit: Reinventing Canada’s Health Care System” is “meant to provide a blueprint for change once those in charge finally acknowledge the most inconvenient truth — namely, that Canada’s health-care system is in poor health”

Skyvington releases this statement to media about the decision that came down in British Columbia today :

“With his extremely short-sighted decision today, Justice Steeves has sentenced Canadians like you and me to many more years of Medicare mediocrity. Surely, this will go down as one of the worst days in Canadian health care history, thanks in no small part to this most unfortunate misunderstanding of the realities our country’s health care system is facing. As a result of Justice Steeves’s decision, Canada will undoubtedly end up with a U.S.-style, two-tier health care system by 2030, simply because one man is unwilling to acknowledge just how truly broken and unsustainable our system of Medicare is. Don’t weep for Dr. Day and his fellow patient plaintiffs. Weep for all Canadians … we’re the big losers here!”

― Stephen Skyvington, author of This May Hurt A Bit: Reinventing Canada’s Health Care System

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK.

Some painful news: Canada no longer has the best health-care system in the world. How might we fix Canada’s health-care system? Why would we want to? What’s stopping us from doing so? These three questions lie at the heart of this in-depth exploration of one of the biggest political and personal issues facing Canadians.
Skyvington explains why change has to occur, in light of the implications of doing nothing, and describes how Canadians can and must get involved to save our health-care system. This May Hurt a Bit is meant to provide a blueprint for change once those in charge finally acknowledge the most inconvenient truth — namely, that Canada’s health-care system is in poor health.

Find it at : https://www.amazon.ca/This-May-Hurt-Bit-Reinventing/dp/1459742435

RESPONSE TO THE BOOK :
One part memoir, two parts jeremiad, This May Hurt a Bit demands a discussion on healthcare. Skyvington pokes, prods, and provokes until he gets the debate Canadians need (Shawn Whatley, MD, past president of the Ontario Medical Association, author of No More Lethal Waits)

Skyvington uses a lifetime of experience to do more than just tell the story of our healthcare system. He uses it to skillfully offer a bold, comprehensive prescription for its ailments (Jaime Watt, executive chairman, Navigator)

Stephen Skyvington’s perspective on the intersection of politics and health care in Canada is unique and without equal. No previous account has shed such clear light on how government decision-makers and key health players interact and determine how — or whether — our health system works. This May Hurt a Bit offers a fearless and independent critical analysis and prescription for action that provides a crucial contribution to the future of health care policy-making in Canada. (Dan Rath, co-author, Not Without Cause — David Peterson’s Fall From Grace)

Stephen Skyvington has written a must-read for anyone interested in exploring an honest and provocative framework for the creation of an effective, responsive and sustainable healthcare system that doesn’t bankrupt the government. (Wayne Clancy, founder, MindSuiteMetrics and HealthCarePossibilities.com)

Skyvington’s book documents how everyone has screwed up health care, and what we must do to save it. The prescriptions are strong, but they may save your life! ( — Richard Worzel, leading futurist, speaker, and author)

Skyvington has seen the decline of Ontario’s health care from every perspective, including a stint as an insider at the Ontario Medical Association. He is not one to pull punches, and this book is no exception. Every doctor should read this book. So should every patient. And it will hurt a bit. ( — William G. Hughes, MD, FRCPC, Cardiologist)

For decades, Stephen Skyvington has seen Canadian health care through the eyes of doctors, politicians, and as a patient. He knows what’s wrong with our system and what it needs to once again become the best in the world. (Dr. Douglas Mark — President, DoctorsOntario)

This 2019 book has become more relevant than ever in light of the pandemic, and the Justice’s decision.