CARP’s “NO MORE WAITING” campaign presses for health care reform

The campaign, NO MORE WAITING presents three demands to federal and provincial politicians. CARP intends to poll all elected representatives as to whether or not they will agree to these demands, and then publicize their responses, encouraging people to vote only for those politicians who will endorse the demands.

The three demands are:

1. Wait time guarantees

2. Immediate coverage, under all provincial drug benefit programs, of all drugs approved by Health Canada

3. $2 billion to be earmarked by the Federal government for family caregiver respite

“CARP has always been a firm and unwavering supporter of Canada’s public health care system,” said Lillian Morgenthau, co-founder and President of the CARP. “But we believe the debate between public and private health care advocates has become a thing unto itself – an ideological standoff that has, quite bluntly, gotten in the way of the actual delivery of better health care to Canadians. We believe it is time to change the entire framework of the discussion. We believe the focus should be on results.”

CARP, Canada’s Association for te Fifty Plus, has close to 400,000 members, and is by far the largest organization advocating for the 50+ and seniors. CARP has worked constructively with all levels of government to provide policy ideas on a wide range of issues. NO MORE WAITING represents its largest campaign to date, and the first campaign that directly aims to tie policy to voter support.

“We are tired of waiting while politicians – of all parties – hide behind royal commissions, study groups, white papers, research reports, think tanks and other academic exercises,” Lillian Morgenthau said. “We are tired of waiting while the federal and provincial levels of government squabble and trade accusations. We are tired of waiting for better health care, and we want action now.”

The NO MORE WAITING campaign will be launched initially over the Internet. The campaign will be managed by The 50Plus Group, which operates CARP’s web site and produces CARPAction Online, an electronic newsletter for CARP members. The 50Plus Group (operated by Fifty-Plus.Net Inc., TSE-VX:FPN) also operates 50Plus.com, as well as four other web sites and five e-newsletters, all targeting the 50+ market. In all, the 50Plus Group serves close to a million page views a month to this audience, making the company by far the largest Canadian Internet company specializing in this market.

“We have created a new web site, NoMoreWaiting.info,” said David Cravit, Senior Vice President, “which has detailed information on all three demands. But the key part of the campaign is a poll we are taking. We are asking every elected representative, federal and provincial, to give us a straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on each of our demands. We will publish the results on NoMoreWaiting.info , starting November 15. That way, people can quickly find out where their local MP or MPP stands.”

The web site is also linked to CARP E-Voice, a service that enables people to quickly compose and send an e-mail to elected representatives.

“We intend to do everything in our power to influence the outcome of every election in Canada, starting with the provincial election in Ontario next October, based on our three demands,” said Lillian Morgenthau. “The 50+ group is by far the largest segment of the population, and delivers the highest percentage turnout on voting day. We believe that if we mobilize Canada’s 50+ population, we can achieve results.”

To see the Canadian Press article on the new CARP initiative, go to:

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/061024/x102426.html