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Canada's Premiers Fight
Ottawa Over Health Funding
Excerpt
By Rajiv Sekhri, Reuters Health
TORONTO (Reuters)
- Canada's provincial leaders demanded
C$12.5 billion in new federal money on Thursday to improve
the cash-strapped public health system over the next few years
in a proposal at odds with Ottawa's plan.
The premiers also said they wanted
to have final say on how they spend the money, sparking criticism
from Ottawa, which wants annual reports detailing access to health
care, efficiency and quality.
"We need accountability and they
need accountability. I do not know why someone would not want
to be accountable. It just escapes me," Prime Minister Jean Chretien
said.
The 10 premiers, however, stressed
money should be spent to treat patients, not collect statistics.
Prince Edward Island Premier Pat
Binns, speaking at the end of a meeting of the leaders in Toronto,
said provinces were seeking C$5.4 billion for the current
fiscal year, which ends March 31, and C$7.1 billion in the
next year.
Ottawa wants to set up a multi-billion
dollar, five-year Health Reform Fund to pay for new and extended
services it wants provinces to introduce--home care by 2006, catastrophic
drug coverage by the end of 2005 and diagnostic technology.
"They have an accord. We have an
accord. We put the two documents on the table and start the negotiations
there," said Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, whose health care reforms
favoring more private-sector involvement have angered Ottawa.
The premiers will meet with Chretien
Feb. 4 and 5 to work out what to do about the funding issue.
Canada's universal health care
system has become a political battleground between the provinces,
which deliver services, and Ottawa, which legislates standards
and provides some of the funding.
The premiers have long blamed such
nationwide problems as lengthy waits for tests, diagnoses and
operations on the Chretien government, saying the federal share
of funding has been slashed to allow Ottawa to balance its books.
"Let's be realistic. They're asking
for C$5 billion between now and the end of the (fiscal) year.
How can they spend C$5 billion between now and the end of
the year?" asked Chretien.
"Of course they'll ask for more
money...than they expect to receive," Chretien said.
Under their plan, the premiers
want Ottawa to boost funding to 18 percent of health care costs,
from 14 percent, and they do not want the federal government meddling
too much in how they use the money. Within seven years, the provinces
want Ottawa's share to rise to 25 percent of the bill.
"They (Ottawa) have an C$11
billion surplus. We're asking for less than half of that," Ontario
Premier Ernie Eves said.
Despite the differences, the two
proposals are "reconcilable," New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord
said.
"There is good faith here and the
prime minister will be able to agree on a funding plan that will
take into account needs across the country," Lord said.
Chretien sent a letter to the premiers
on Thursday saying Canada should manage its affairs in "such a
way as not to put at risk the hard won fiscal achievements of
the past decade."
The new funding will require "substantial
new investments from both levels of government," Chretien wrote.
He added that he hoped the premiers will agree to Ottawa's proposal
on Feb. 5.
"There is agreement that while
new money is essential, money alone will not solve the problems
of our public health care system," Chretien wrote.
Reference
Source 89
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