Health for All

A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada

By: Jane Philpott

Narrated by: Jane Philpott

An Instant #1 National Bestseller • From one of Canada's most respected and high-profile health professionals (and former federal Minister of Health), a timely, practical, ambitious, and deeply personal call for action on health that sets out the roadmap to our future well-being.

Jane Philpott has spent her life learning what makes people sick and what keeps people well. She has witnessed miracles in modern medicine. She has also watched children die of starvation in a world that has plenty of food. With Health for All, she sounds a clarion call for a radical disruption in a health care system that is broken—but not beyond repair. The vision is rooted in a deep-seated commitment to health equity.

Decades ago, a few visionary Canadian leaders put laws in place to ensure health care insurance for all. But the structures to deliver that care were never fully developed as envisioned. As a result, our health systems are not comprehensive or well-coordinated. In the wake of a pandemic, we risk it all falling apart. More than six million people have no family doctor, nor any other access to primary care. Emergency rooms are routinely closed. Exhausted health workers wonder if it will ever get better. Some say we should hand health care over to the private sector. But to abandon our commitment to publicly funded health care now would only lead to more expensive and less equitable care. Philpott outlines a different solution—an ambitious, once-in-a-generation reset of health systems with universal access to primary care teams.

What sets this book apart is that it’s more than a prescription for better medical care. Philpott looks at the big picture of health for all. This includes an intimate look at the personal roots of well-being: hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose. Then, through real-life stories, she examines the impact of the social determinants of health. Finally, she explains that none of this will happen without the political will to do the hard work of rebuilding a healthy society. The remedy we await is serious leadership to implement what we already know and to put the well-being of Canadians at the top of the agenda.

An Illuminating Look At Canada's style of politics

As a former insider, Dr. Philpott provides us with a clear look at the workings of government - the hypocrisy, the vacuous exchanges that pass for meaningful debate, the political paralysis that blocks progress on vital files. I am a politically active Liberal but I have no use for the spineless arrogance emanating from PM Justin Trudeau and his governing Liberals. The nasty schoolyard culture that defines debate in our House of Commons is little more than a loud-mouthed competition for social network "likes". God help us all, Pierre Poilievre and his far right convoy troops seem poised to win the next election, an outcome that will probably finish off Canada's deteriorating system of public health care.

Dr. Philpott: please return to politics and run for leadership of the morally crippled Liberal party.

Narration is fine, but far too slow and plodding; 1.5 speedup brings it up to a comfortable listening level.