Kawartha Lakes This Week

(KAWARTHA LAKES) If Ottawa listens to the little guys, there could be positive changes to health care.

And, thanks to the proactive efforts of health-care teams across Canada, the federal government will know what the public wants.

About 100 residents of the City of Kawartha Lakes, Brock Township and Haliburton attended public consultations held in recent months as the Canada Health Accord comes up for renewal this year.

OUR OPINION: The Public Has The Answers To The Future Of Health Care

The results were released in a special report Health Care Accord 2014 - The Future of Canadian Health Care on Tuesday (April 15).

The Accord is the agreement by which federal health care funding is given to the provinces. It is a 10-year agreement last negotiated in 2004.

That year, the federal government committed to an increase of health-care funding of six per cent per year. In 2011, the government announced that funding at that rate will continue until 2017. At that point any increase will be tied to economic growth, but not lower than three per cent annually. Funding will be calculated for each province/territory, based on its economic performance each year.

Mike Perry, executive director of the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team, agrees the results are eye-opening.

It is clear people want quality, publicly-funded health care and are willing to pay for it, he said. If anything, they want it enhanced.

Read more from the original source:

Residents weigh in on the future of health care