Alberta “can’t carry the country” during this
recession, Premier Ed Stelmach said Thursday as he demanded a larger
slice of federal health transfers from Ottawa.
“All we’re asking for is respect,” said the premier,
complaining Alberta is being shortchanged by more than $700 million in
health transfers compared to other provinces.
“To me, an Albertan that requires health services,
that is sick or suffers from whatever disease, is just as sick as they
are in Quebec or Ontario,” said Stelmach.
Currently Alberta gets $542 per capita in health
transfers, while every other province gets at least $745 per person,
according to Alberta finance ministry figures.
“We’re getting screwed out of more than $200 per
person, which adds up to $733 million,” said a ministry official, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The bickering over health transfers came to a head
when the new federal budget was released in January and Alberta was not
given the same boost in health transfers as other provinces, said Paul
Stanway, Stelmach’s communications director.
A 2004 agreement with Ottawa and the provinces said
health transfers would be boosted by 2014, but other provinces are
clearly getting a better deal earlier than 2012, said Stanway.
“These guys speeded it up, but only for some
provinces,” he said. “How come Saskatchewan and British Columbia
qualify? They’re have provinces the same as Alberta.”
But Chisholm Pothier, a spokesman for federal
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said late Thursday that Alberta is still
on track to get a higher rate under the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) in
five years.
“In budget 2007, the Conservative government
committed to move to equal per capita cash support in the CHT by
2014-15,” Pothier wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.
“When the current federal-provincial health accord expires, Alberta will receive equal per capita CHT funding then.”
Alberta’s Progressive Conservative government has
become a little desperate in recent weeks since the provincial budget
was released with a stated intention to chop $2 billion from a record
$4.7 billion deficit by next year.
The government is already laying the groundwork for some pretty painful measures if it doesn’t get more federal money.
“I will not rule out tax increases,” Health Minister
Ron Liepert told The Canadian Press in an interview this week. “I don’t
think you can.”
“As an example, if we were to implement a five-cent
gas tax, that’s $400 million,” he said. “I’m not suggesting that’s what
we’re doing.
“We are not ruling out anything, other than the premier has said there will be no provincial sales tax.”
Liepert generated outcry recently by dropping chiropractic services and sex-change operations from Alberta’s medicare coverage.
Several other medical services will be dropped from coverage, Liepert said, but he won’t provide specific details.
“We need to take a hard look at what publicly funded
health care covers and what it doesn’t cover,” said the minister. “If
you go look at the Canada Health Act, there is no list of services that
they cover. It’s all open to interpretation.”
Alberta has been warned in the past by the federal
government to not violate the Canada Health Act by de-listing
treatments that would be considered “medically necessary.”
But Liepert said he doesn’t think Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is likely to challenge
Alberta’s cost-cutting measures.
“I think they’re going to let us run it, as they should, because it’s our jurisdiction,” he said.
The premier insists Alberta won’t violate the Canada Health Act. But Liepert’s comments drew an immediate response from Ottawa.
“Our Conservative government remains committed to the
principles of the Canada Health Act,” said Josee Bellemare, press
secretary to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
Liepert, who is known for his blunt talk, conceded
that a public backlash over any significant changes to the health-care
system is inevitable.
“Is it going to be easy? Absolutely not,” he said.
“But I do believe that there’s a recognition by a majority of Albertans
that health care can’t cover everything all the time.”
People will have the option of broadening their
group medical insurance coverage to cover treatments that are no longer
covered, said the health minister.
“It’s going to open up opportunities for groups like
Blue Cross to offer more comprehensive packages,” said Liepert. “It’s
going to allow patients to choose what services they might want to
insure for and which ones they might not.
“If they want to use acupuncture, they should have
the right to buy insurance for that,” he said. “If they want to use a
chiropractor, then they should have the right to buy insurance for
that.”
Alberta’s opposition parties and a medicare lobby group were quick to pounce on the musings about trimming medicare coverage.
Friends of Medicare spokesman David Eggen said
Albertans will be very upset if the Stelmach government uses a narrow
interpretation of the Canada Health Act to cut medical services.
“They’re going against what Albertans expect and want from their public health-care system,” said Eggen.
Liberal Opposition Leader David Swann is calling for
a wide-ranging public debate on what medical treatments Canadians can
expect to be protected under the 25-year-old Canada Health Act.
“It’s high time that the public had an opportunity
to say what they want for their health system and their tax dollars,”
said Swann.
“Let’s let the debate begin.”