Saving Medicare

We have the tools to fix our health-care system

Dr. Irfan Dhalla of Health Quality Ontario and St. Michael’s Hospital on what to be proud of, and what we can improve

I never got to meet either of my grandfathers — both died of heart attacks in their fifties. My father developed a chronic lung disease called bronchiectasis as a young boy, and when my mother married him she thought he would be dead before he turned 60. But thanks largely to advances in medical science such as the development of new antibiotics, my father is now in his seventies and still actively engaged in all facets of life. He even tweets.
 

My family’s story is by no means unique. Since 1867, the average lifespan in Canada has increased by 20 years. When our country was founded, one out of every 10 babies died before their first birthday. Today, this number is less than one out of every 200.
 

A 20-fold reduction in the infant mortality rate, in less than a century and a half, is something worthy of both celebration and reflection.

Read more:
http://www.thestar.com/news/ken_dryden_canada_day/2014/06/30/we_have_the_tools_to_fix_our_healthcare_system.html