New Spending Programs and Old Frustrations: Where Is the Vision?

The spring has ushered in an unexpected number of major health policy announcements compared with the last 10 years. They are led by the federal government's outlines of a national pharmacare program, an unexpected dental care program (Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau 2022), plus "top-up" funding for clearing provincial surgical and imaging backlogs. These announcements are on top of the voices expressing concerns about COVID-19-related healthcare expenditure trends (Bailey 2022). Without a doubt, taxpayer money is flowing freely into healthcare (Labby 2020).