Foreign purchase of nursing home

nursinghome 2
December 22, 2016

Submission to:
Honourable Navdeep Singh Bains
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Email: Navdeep.Bains@parl.gc.ca

From:
Support Our Health Care (SOHC) Society of Princeton, BC

Anbang Insurance Corporation Proposed Purchase Of Retirement Concepts

The Support Our Health Care (SOHC) Society of Princeton has prepared the following submission regarding the proposed sale of Retirement Concepts to the Anbang Insurance Group. In a letter sent to the Honourable Minister Navdeep Singh Bains, dated December 7th, SOHC requested an extension of the period of review by the Investment Review Division to allow for an adequate response from concerned organizations. Subsequently, we were contacted by Patricia Brady, Director General, Federal Investment Review Division, who invited us to meet with her by telephone to discuss our concerns. A teleconference was held on December 15 with Ms. Brady, Matthew Dooley (Director, Investment Review Operations) and five members of the SOHC Executive.

We appreciated the opportunity to discuss this issue and were impressed with the information that was provided and the clarity of their response to our discussion points and questions. At that meeting, we informed Ms. Brady that we would be preparing a written submission outlining in greater detail our perceptions and concerns. Continue reading

We need improved access to health care – Dr. Ruddiman, Doctors of BC

Dr. Alan Ruddiman, Doctors of BC President

Dr. Alan Ruddiman, Doctors of BC President

The following article appeared in the December 12, 2016 online issue of BC Business magazine:

The president of Doctors of BC on foreign-trained physicians, overhauling MSP and the future of health-care delivery
Born in Dundee, Scotland, and raised and educated in South Africa, Alan Ruddiman moved to Canada in 1991—practising rural medicine on the Prairies for five years before settling in bucolic Oliver, where he continues a general practice to this day. Ruddiman was elected president of the rebranded Doctors of BC (formerly the B.C. Medical Association) in June 2015, after having held positions within the organization for 20 years. His opponent, Dr. Brian Day, promoted a hybrid of private-public health care options while Ruddiman ran on a platform of reducing bureaucracy and overcrowding in hospitals. The contrast between the two doctors drew a turnout of 50 per cent of the 11,000-strong membership in the runoff election, with Ruddiman prevailing by 603 votes.

The 52-year-old GP faces a host of challenges in his new job, which began June 4— including the need for primary-care reform, a doctor shortage and an aging population (Ruddiman’s own patients average 76 years of age, he says). But Ruddiman insists that with consistent management practices, and by learning success stories from other jurisdictions, there are brighter days ahead.

Why did you choose to get involved in the political side of medicine?
It traces right back to my early days of residency in rural Manitoba. I saw that doctors’ voices were not resonating with government, and important issues were going unheard. I saw a need for a bridging voice, a connective tissue to bring government, citizens and doctors together.

For those who might be confused, what’s the difference between Doctors of BC and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.?
Doctors of BC is a medical association whereas the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. is the regulatory body that oversees licences, practices and discipline. Our mission is to work for a social, economic and political climate that creates the conditions allowing members to provide a high level of care to their patients. Our membership is voluntary—about $2,000 per year for a general physician—and we provide a wide range of services, including negotiating the Physician Master Agreement with the provincial government, as well as leveraged physician insurance and even discounted hotel rates for our membership. We have also arranged targeted funds for rural physicians, specialists and initiatives.

Why is it still so hard to find a GP in this province?
There are a number of factors. Certainly much blame can be attached to the infamous 1991 Barer-Stoddart Report that said we were graduating too many doctors for the Canadian market. The message to universities and government was: cut back. Unfortunately we’re still paying the price, but we are now turning out more general physicians than ever before. Canada has never been self-sufficient in doctors; we rely very heavily on supplementing our workforce with internationally trained physicians, and now properly credentialed doctors from the U.S., the U.K, Ireland and Australia are accepted at par.

Premier Christy Clark said recently that the Medical Services Plan needs an overhaul. What is your position?
How we derive revenue to support our health-care system is best left to cabinet. We must bear in mind that federal-provincial transfer payments for health care have shifted from 50:50 to 25:75. We also, as Canadians, need to ask ourselves what scope of health care we want and Continue reading

Foreign purchase of BC long term care facilities


On November 28, the Toronto Globe & Mail reported that Chinese based Anbang Insurance Group intends to purchase Retirement Concepts, a BC based corporation that operates 24 long term care facilities in Canada, including the Summerland Seniors Village in the Okanagan.

Support Our Health Care questions this proposed sale and supports organizations like the BC Health Coalition, Friends of Medicare and the Hospital Employees Union in their efforts to stop this takeover bid, estimated to be over a billion dollars. Under federal law, any deal larger than $600 million triggers a review under the government’s Investment Review Division.

As stated by Andra Azocar, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare, “This sale is another alarming sign of how private continuing care decisions are driven by profit motives instead of what’s best for patient care. A distant and multi-billion dollar insurance company is about the exact opposite of who we need responsible for the care of our loved ones . . . we must insist that this sale be rejected so that we can refocus our system on care that is responsive and driven by local needs, and ultimately by the public sector.”

Hospital Employees Union (HEU) secretary-business manager, Jennifer Whiteside says that “Selling BC seniors care facilities to an offshore insurance company is not in the interest of BC health care workers, seniors, or our health care system.”

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said in the House of Commons last Tuesday, that he will scrutinize the takeover to ensure it’s not hurting Canada. “These are done on a case-by-case basis and, over all, our objective is very clear. We are going to do what is the net benefit for Canada. We are going to make sure that we advance our national interest and when we make a decision, we will make that public.”

BC Health Coalition co-chairs, Edith MacHaffie and Rick Turner, have sent a letter to the Minister asking to have the timelines for the review of this deal extended “in order for interested stakeholders and the public to prepare and share their views on this proposed takeover.”

The SOHC Executive has also sent a letter to Minister Navdeep Bains outlining our concerns over this deal and supporting others in their call to extend the review timeline to allow information to be shared and public concerns heard.

For more information, click on the following links:
Hospital Employees Union oppose takeover deal

Friends of Medicare call for Ottawa to reject proposed sale of Retirement Concepts

Globe and Mail article

SOHC letter to Navdeep Bains

BCHC letter to Navdeep Singh Bains

letter in the Comox Valley Record