As a result, Magna has proceeded to implement the equivalent of the first phase of the CHO proposal, a health promotion program, at the company's own expense. So far, the health promotion program has been a great success. After having been introduced at all of our Canadian divisions, we are now in the process of rolling out the program to our divisions in the United States. Our internal surveys show that employees believe the program has positively influenced their willingness to embrace changes that will ultimately lead to improved health. Clearly, we as a society need to stop thinking about healthcare as being purely in the public domain.
Illness knows no boundaries and impacts upon people who have both a home and a work life.
The fact is, healthcare is a joint responsibility, and the public and private sectors need to work more closely together to ensure that we put the welfare of our employees and the community at large first. By jointly managing our healthcare resources, we could improve healthcare services during a period of escalating needs and reduced funding. For example, a single administrative system, with separate pools of public and private funding, could offer considerable savings to both parties and an opportunity to eliminate duplication and waste. However, even though business currently pays for as much as one-third of all healthcare expenditures in Canada, it has virtually no say in how that money is spent. The creation of a standardized drug formulary would allow us to identify the most cost-effective drugs.