@calgaryswsj.bsky.social
“Telling Albertans to choose between cleaning out your retirement fund and waiting years in pain for a needed surgery is frankly insulting, and goes against the principles of equitability and universality on which our public medicare system is founded”: FOM's Chris Gallaway
The Tyee@thetyee.ca · 6d ago“Did Danielle Smith really believe her re-election fairy tale in 2023, or was she deceiving us?” David J. Climenhaga writes. thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026...
Please take a few moments to take action and support @queermomentum.ca in this important effort! www.queermomentum.ca #TransRightsAreHumanRights #CharterRights
Momentum
queermomentum.ca
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · 6d agoHealth care decisions are between patients & their doctors. But the AB government keeps interfering in that relationship, setting a dangerous precedent that should be of deep concern to all of us. Help @queermomentum.ca call for a human rights inquiry on AB's violation of charter-protected rights!👇
EXACTLY!! Not helpful, even to those who jump the queue ... "over-diagnosis, anxiety, latrogenic injury" Typically, the policy is driven by ideology, not evidence #SupportPublicHealthcare #NoToPrivatization #abhealth
Timothy Caulfield@caulfieldtim.bsky.social · last wk.‼️ Sum: Ugh ‼️ ZERO evidence to support this move! Eg, likely to: > costs to healthcare system > overdiagnosis, anxiety, iatrogenic injury > confusion & inequities > wait times for public Alberta out-of-pocket payments for private medical testing beginning this week globalnews.ca/news/1199559...
Not only does it not add capacity, it creates more problems/less capacity with people making guesses about what tests/screenings they need whether or not it makes sense.
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · last wk.New rules permit Albertans to "purchase diagnostic screening tests including MRIs, CT scans, x-rays & ultrasounds, without a doctor’s referral." AKA: Legislated queue-jumping for the wealthy. This doesn't add capacity, it just changes who's at the front of the line. Read FOM's response on Friday👇
“The Premier ran last election on a ‘Public Health Guarantee,’ repeatedly promising that her govt wouldn’t delist any med procedures from public funding & that no ABs would have to pay … to access care. Yet here we are. What a betrayal of ABs who took the Premier at her word in the last election.”
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · 2w agoWhile Canada’s Premiers met this week, Alberta quietly reclassified all preventive testing as non-insured extended health services. Laying groundwork to delist health services from public coverage? Yet another step towards two-tier health care. www.friendsofmedicare.org/oic_step_tow...
"New and existing funds must come with firm requirements to uphold the Canada Health Act and advance solutions known to improve access to care and the long-term sustainability of Canada's health systems..." #SupportPublicHealthcare #cdnhealth
Mare (she/her) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️@mare555.bsky.social · 2w agowww.friendsofmedicare.org/canadas_heal... “An investment in health care is an investment in Canada’s future: with every dollar the federal government spends on health, more than $1.30 is generated in additional GDP.”
Taking action is more urgent than ever. Please click on the link, join @friendsofmedicare.bsky.social and stand up for #PublicHealthcare #abhealth #ableg
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · 3w agoWe're in Alberta, fighting to protect our public health care against the imminent threat of full-scale privatization. But we need YOUR help! 📢Get your No Two Tier Action Kit TODAY to help us fight back: friendsofmedicare.org/actionkit
“Denialism seeks to minimize, distort, and deny the harms of residential schools. That’s what the Senate did,” said David Monias, chief of Pimicikamak Okimawin, at the press conference Wednesday. #TruthAndReconciliation #LandBack
Mare (she/her) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️@mare555.bsky.social · 3w agoFirst Nations Chiefs Call Out Exponential Rise In Anti-Indigenous Hate www.readthemaple.com/first-nation... “In my region, in British Columbia, we’ve definitely experienced that, many of our First Nations, not only by the general public, but also by elected officials,” Teegee said.
www.friendsofmedicare.org/bill11_renew... “The urgency of this threat cannot be understated,” said Gallaway. “Albertans’ provincial government is bringing American health care into Canada, including a system of legislated queue-jumping, in direct contravention of the Canada Health Act. #abhealth
New Bill 11 Legal Opinion Prompts Renewed Calls for Federal Health Minister to Act
Bill 11 regulations were announced, but a new legal opinion shows it STILL breaks the Canada Health Act! There's no time to waste: we need urgent action from our Federal Government to STOP two-tier he...
friendsofmedicare.org
TELUS is once again profiting from our health, selling $2,995 "Total Body MRIs."This follows a history of UCP sweetheart deals—from the Babylon app privacy mess to buying out Copeman Clinic to enable two-tier access. They keep being rewarded for undermining our public system. #AbPoli #ableg #cdnpoli
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · last mo.Expect longer MRI wait times, Albertans. Barely 2 months after Bill 29 passed, for-profit health care corporations like TELUS Health are wasting no time charging thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for diagnostic testing—regardless of actual medical need. www.friendsofmedicare.org/3000_dollar_...
Check out some excellent new reporting from The Tyee and research from CCPA on lessons we can learn from Scotland to help fix our health care system here at home. Links to both articles here: tr.ee/U7vxHj67_j
“This is not just a bad policy, it is a betrayal of the greatest nation-building program in modern Canadian history. For this reason, we are urgently asking the federal government today to enforce the Canada Health Act immediately.”
Alberta implementation of physician dual practice is serious threat to medicare
The Alberta government’s announcement that starting in September it will allow physicians delivering publicly funded services also to privately bill patients for surgeries presents a deeply seri...
una.ca
FOM is amplifying @hsaalberta.bsky.social 's call on Albertans to support Public Health Inspectors’ rights to a fair transition, so that they can continue to do their work to keep us all safe! 📢 Send a message to the Minister & your MLA: hsaa.ca/speakup-bill55
Speak up to keep negotiated rights
Public Health Inspectors deserve to retain the rights, wages and benefits they fairly negotiated. Write your MLA today!
hsaa.ca
This is truly alarming and I don't think enough Albertans realize how much our healthcare system is being destroyed. Like the saying goes, "You don't know what you've got til it's gone .." and then it's too late. Get involved now and fight back! #Abhealth #ableg #CorruptCare #UnionStrong
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · last mo.400+ Public Health Inspectors & colleagues are being transferred out of AHS and into direct government employment. FOM is extremely concerned about the impact this move will have on Albertans' public health & safety in daycares, seniors' care & more. www.friendsofmedicare.org/strong_publi...
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · last mo.🚨Alberta is enacting two tier, American-style health care where the rich can pay for access, while the rest of us wait longer or go without. We're fighting back—& you can help!🤝 Get your Action Kit today to help defend public health care in YOUR community: www.friendsofmedicare.org/ActionKit
Let's keep talking about HC Alberta. Share your stories, put a human face on the impact of worsening HC Access Across the province. Forget about ideology. Let's just talk facts. Talk about what is really happening in your community. 2/4
calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu... "..There are many current examples of how AB is not holding up its side of the social safety net bargain. This is why we are seeing numerous legal challenges abt access to gender affirming care, income supports, shelter, free health care .." #HarmReductionSavesLives
Opinion: Former Safeworks client fights closure, saying facility as crucial now as in his past
Opinion:
calgaryherald.com
www.friendsofmedicare.org/fundraiser_2... @friendsofmedicare.bsky.social Annual Fundraiser ... always a good time and a worthy cause. #abhealth
Fundraiser 2026 Tickets
friendsofmedicare.org
“Minimum care hours in Alberta were already woefully low, leaving far too many seniors & other Albertans suffering without their care needs being met. The further gutting of continuing care regulations has only made a bad situation worse,” said Gallaway ED, @friendsofmedicare.bsky.social #abhealth
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · 2mo agoThis Alberta Seniors Week, seniors deserve more than just recognition. “At every turn, our provincial government is shovelling public health care funding into the profits of private providers, rather than investing in the public good,” said Chris Gallaway www.friendsofmedicare.org/seniors_week...
"In April, when the plan was initially announced, Friends of Medicare criticised ABF as a voucher model, promoting quantity over quality & market competition rather than ensuring we have well-funded public facilities that are best equipped to meet the healthcare needs of Albertans." #ABHealth #ableg
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe AB government has moved forward on Activity-Based Funding, forcing hospitals to compete for funding by performing surgeries as fast as possible. Yet another convoluted privatization scheme instead of properly staffing & resourcing our hospitals! www.friendsofmedicare.org/surgical_vou...
albertaviews.ca/stealing-fre... "Forget the UCP fearmongering. Alberta is doing an end run around the Constitution, depriving the most vulnerable of their Charter rights and denying health professionals the ability to do their jobs responsibly. Like it or not, Alberta is still a part of Canada."
Danielle Smith's medical assistance in dying law - Alberta Views
Unable to access medical assistance in dying in Canada, the 89-year-old travelled to Switzerland to obtain the care denied to her here.
albertaviews.ca
#NoTwoTier healthcare Stop the privatization. No to profits in healthcare. #SupportPublicHealthCare Albertans are coming together to #FightBack on all the undemocratic & destructive policies the UCP govt are forcing on us. No one asked for these, they were not campaigned on and yet ....
Friends of Medicare@friendsofmedicare.bsky.social · 2mo ago🪧 Today FOM took to the streets (with a few thousand friends!) to join @abfedlabour.bsky.social's Alberta-wide protests to fight back against this provincial government's attacks on our public health care & education, against scapegoating marginalized communities, against division & separatism!
* THIS WEEKEND * : FOM & Dr. @pfparks.bsky.social are heading back to the YYC-region for the final 3 stops of our 25 community tour! Join us in Canmore, Okotoks or Chestermere for your LAST CHANCE to take part in this Urgent Conversation about YOUR health care! Here's where we'll be:
High River Mayor speaks up against the scheme to destroy the Rockies for coal. @meidascanada.ca www.youtube.com/shorts/3oLJ2...
THE BATTLE FOR THE ROCKIES !!!
YouTube video by Charlie Angus
youtube.com
