There are a many things I do like about our health system here in Ontario. Universal access is one of them. More people get more care with less risk of going broke than in a lot of places. The public pays less in administrative costs than in some privately administered systems.  I’ve had to deal with the public and private health bureaucracies for years and they’re equally – well – bureaucratic. (No matter what systems we create, there will always be bureaucrats.)

Non-medical treatment such as acupuncture, physiotherapy, psychology and chiropractic are widely available. Most private insurance plans cover some of the cost of these even though the publicly funded system does not. Many pharmaceuticals are available at no cost to seniors and those requiring social assistance.

However, even with all the above, the proportion of public funding for specialized pain care, education and research is far smaller than it should be in terms of the human and economic costs of chronic pain. Even those doctors I’ve spoken with who do not treat pain agree that pain care is lacking here.

It is possible to create multidisciplinary clinics here but there is a lack of expertise among clinicians and a lack of recognition by budget holders that pain care requires a different funding model than, say, cardiology. There are few if any charitable donations/foundations devoted to pain.

I think we have to change social perceptions and attitudes about pain in order to get the message across: by doing a better job with pain, we can reduce suffering and economic loss at the same time.