Moving health forward

If there's room to discuss policy during an election period (and so far it looks relatively possible), this suggestion deserves plenty of attention:

Canada must implement a national catastrophic drug plan to help diabetics, whose out-of-pocket expenses for medicines and supplies vary widely across the country and jeopardize their ability to control the potentially life-threatening disease, says a report by the Canadian Diabetes Association...

More than two million Canadians have been diagnosed with diabetes, a number that's expected to rise to at least three million by 2010. This year's price tag for controlling the disease and treating its complications - among them limb amputation, kidney failure and vision loss - is projected to reach $13 billion.

But with half of those with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes not meeting targeted blood-sugar levels, the proportion of those with complications is sure to rise, said Philp. "Our concern is this threatens the sustainability of our health-care system if we don't do something about it soon."

Predictably, the Lib take on the issue seems to be to wait and study a glaring problem, just in case diabetes happens to miraculously disappear before next June. But the idea should be an easy one for the other parties to pick up on in the interest of showing just how far the Liberals have let important parts of the health system lapse...and to show that a commitment to health care means more than just the status quo.