Sask. premier not happy with feds healthcare funding offer — Business d’Or
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said he was disappointed with Ottawa’s new health care funding offer he received on Tuesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed a $196 billion package that fell well short of expectations of provincial and territorial leaders.
Saskatchewan’s premier said it took the federal government several years to respond to a unanimous request from all states to become full health financing partners. Scott Mo said he confirmed at the long-awaited Tuesday meeting that he was not interested.
“I think it will take a few days for us to digest the proposal and for our team to digest the details,” said Mo. The current offer is a 2% increase. Saskatchewan Health Secretary Paul Merriman said, “We were looking ahead to $28 billion to meet immediate needs.”
Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) welcomed additional funding.
“SMA wants significant investments in primary health care reform to address the accessibility challenges faced by patients,” the statement said.
Saskatoon Doctor Adam Ogiglo urges state to focus less on dollars and more on health care reform.
“I think dollars and cents aren’t everything after all,” said Ojiglo. “I think we just need to change the way we work in our system.
You can keep pouring money into this problem and we’ve been doing it for decades and we’ve been trying to fix it for a generation without reforming the system, but the same problem has continued to happen.”
Saskatchewan NDP President Carla Beck said, “Until we address the retention issue, it’s a revolving door, and we’ve heard from health care workers.” do.
They plan to negotiate additional spending with the federal government, which is eager to get health care funds running as quickly as possible.
Originally published at https://businessdor.com on February 9, 2023.
