In Canada, both homeopathy and private healthcare are gearing up to take a leading role in the coming years as conventional medicine looks to reinvent itself amidst gigantic funding from the Canadian Federal Government. With the 10-year-healthcare deal announced in 2023 by Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, conventional public healthcare is set to receive almost 200 billion dollars in funding in the coming years. [1] This plan will more than likely lend to the implementation of new medication as well as medical practices, equipment, facilities, and companies. Familiar claims made by government officials and state-sanctioned medical experts are also re-emerging around this plan, touting again that it is time to modernize the aging Canadian healthcare, and that for-profit healthcare is not a viable option. These expensive plans and touts are undoubtedly tied to the new, revamping advancements in allopathic care happening around the world.

The term post-modern medicine is gaining significant grounds in the discussion of recent shifts in allopathic care. The term is a fitting adjective to the litany of genetic-based treatments and services being introduced into the market. The post-modern push already incorporates over-the-counter RNA therapeutics in pharmacies across the region, but what may be more concerning is its twisted outlook on personal medical data, and the various methods it believes that data should be shared. The Canadian Federal Government has publicly stated that for Canadian provinces to gain access to this funding (namely the Canada Health Transfer), they must commit to improving medical data sharing. Canadians are expected to have their medical data shared between health workers and institutions across various jurisdictions; and not just those relating to public health.

It’s safe to say that the line, rather than being blurred, is being carved, more visible now than ever before. Government intervention in healthcare is undeniably reshaping the health and wellness market, and after post-modern medicine has comfortably, albeit by force, situated itself into the Canadian reality, many will be left with the question, how will this affect Canadians who are simply not interested?

Natasha A. Lewis, a homeopath, clinic owner, and previous board director of the Ontario Homeopathy Medical Association went on record stating that it is inevitable when facing drastic changes, for people to seek alternatives, 

change can bring about two things, certainty, and uncertainty, and when uncertainty comes knocking, healthy individuals will adapt to the change rather than succumb to it. Those potentially not interested in these new types of medical technologies and practices, would be looking for alternatives, and that’s okay. It’s important for alternative healthcare systems such as Homeopathy to step in and let these people know that they are not without healthcare.

Amidst the 2021-2022 Covid-19 vaccination mandates, many individuals who were public healthcare users, found themselves at a crossroads, not wanting to partake in the conventional approach that public health mandates were pushing to treat the Covid-19 virus. Natasha goes on to say that she believes that those same people may still be stuck at this set of crossroads, wondering where to go next, 

as a practitioner, I want people who feel stuck to realize that they have in fact lost and gained rather than have simply lost. I want them to understand that there is an alternative direction for them when wanting to treat their health needs, or that of their families’. Putting the patient first has always been Ontario’s primary focus in healthcare.

The role of private healthcare 

In 2008, the State of Oregon in the USA, inadvertently ran a randomized health insurance experiment where they gave Medicaid coverage to an additional 10,000 people randomly chosen via a lottery. While there was no improvement in health outcomes, hospital admissions increased by 30 percent, outpatient visits by 35 percent, and ER visits by 40 percent. Amazingly, the relationship between healthcare spending and health outcomes is a weak one. [2]

Meanwhile, in the private sector, medical entrepreneurship is growing. In 2021, the Mises Institute in New Hampshire organized a panel discussion with various expert speakers and brought to light some of the incredible developments happening in the private health sector. Concierge and cash-only practices, walk-in cash clinics, medical tourism, and cost-sharing plans are just a few of the ways free-market approaches are changing the landscape. 

The reality is that deviating from conventional medicine in Canada might in fact mean deviating from public healthcare altogether. Homeopathy has no problem stepping into that role. As a healthcare choice, homeopathy has continuously proven to be a viable option for affordable healthcare with some of the poorest countries in the world consistently relying on homeopathy as a cost-effective treatment for their residents. The NIH in 2009 ran a study that compared a cost-benefit evaluation of homeopathic versus conventional therapy in respiratory diseases which concluded that homeopathic treatment for respiratory diseases (asthma, allergic complaints, acute recurrent respiratory infections) was associated with a significant reduction in the use and costs of conventional drugs, and that costs for homeopathic treatments are significantly lower than those of conventional medicine. [3] Those same numbers apply even now.

Upcoming change to the Canadian public health sector may be shutting doors for some, but for consumers seeking alternatives, it can be a time filled with opportunities. Private healthcare is ready to meet healthcare needs, with modalities such as homeopathic care re-emerging as an important and valuable system of medicine now more than ever. Despite market inflation, steep regulation costs and the various tariffs and taxes placed on practitioners and products, homeopathic treatments are still significantly lower than its conventional counterparts.

References

1. Tasker, J. P. (2023, February 8). Trudeau pitches 10-year health-care deal with $46B in new spending. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-health-care-deal-1.6740143 

2. Baicker, K., Taubman, S. L., & et al. (2013, May 2). The Oregon Experiment — effects of medicaid on clinical outcomes. The New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa1212321 

3. Rossi, Elio et al. “Cost-benefit evaluation of homeopathic versus conventional therapy in respiratory diseases.” Homeopathy : the journal of the Faculty of Homeopathy vol. 98,1 (2009): 2-10. doi:10.1016/j.homp.2008.11.005

Note: The views expressed here do not exclusively represent the views of Materia+ and governing entities.