Health Canada – Science and Technology Foresight Workshop
In December 2009, Clem Bezold delivered a keynote speech on "Healthcare 2030" for Health Canada, the health ministry of Canada.  Dr. Bezold highlighted the significant promise from health science and health technology, such as: advances in our understanding of disease and prevention; cures for cancers, diabetes, and other chronic diseases; new understanding of ageing and how to slow it down; and a recognition of social determinants of health and how to change them.  At the same time, Dr. Bezold pointed out that health care systems are unsustainable and sometimes toxic.  Both in the United States and Canada, healthcare systems are on track to break the bank.  The U.S. Medicare program is likely to be insolvent before 2020.  Provincial budgets in Canada, similar to U.S. state budgets, include significant healthcare spending as well.  For example, 42% of British Columbia's 2005 provincial budget was spent on healthcare, and by 2017 this spending is estimated to be 70%.  Regarding healthcare system toxicity, in the U.S. 98,000–200,000 people die prematurely each year because of medical errors.  And pharmaceutical use generates significant side effects and costs: in 2000 there were $148 billion in pharmaceutical sales in the U.S. and an estimated $177 billion spent on healthcare expenses from pharmaceutical use in the ambulatory setting.