Premiers see health-care innovation as way to pressure Ottawa for more money
VICTORIA—Their demand for more federal funding rejected, Canada’s premiers are switching tactics and urging voters to pressure the Conservatives to ante up money for better health-care services.
With Prime Minister Stephen Harper flatly turning down the provinces’ demand that more money can be made available through projects to find efficiencies in health care, the provinces have struck up an innovation working group.
The committee, which includes all provincial health ministers and all premiers, has a self-imposed deadline of six months to find innovative approaches to health care that are happening in individual provinces and consider how to duplicate those practices in other parts of the country.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said the provinces and the territories have the expertise to deliver health care.
“We have been innovating to try and provide better care in different areas of the country. This group is going to help us share those best practices and the federal government is not necessarily needed,” said Wall.
The three areas the group will focus on are: ways to make the scope of practice for health-care providers more cost effective, manage health resource costs and develop clinical practice guidelines that apply for all Canadians.
The premiers also decided to draft Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger to lead another working group with provincial finance ministers to assess the fiscal impact of the cash transfers.
It’s a change in tack for the premiers. On the first day of the conference, premiers demanded that Ottawa needs to be part of the discussions but on Tuesday, the message was all about laying a guilt trip on Ottawa with premiers saying that when they do the work of improving health care, the Conservatives will be pressured into being involved.
Last month, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty sideswiped the provinces when he announced that Ottawa will decide what it gives provinces in future health-care transfers.
Council For Affordable Health Insurance Sourcewatch - News
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With Prime Minister Stephen Harper flatly turning down the provinces' demand that more money can be made available through projects to find efficiencies in health care, the provinces have struck up an innovation working group. The committee, which
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Wikipedia Notes & Tidbits: Verbatim: Diverse Voices Address Small ...
As often as possible, GoodBiz113 presents diverse perspectives on small business and entrepreneurship from those who help shape policies and practices that impact us. Here's what some folks have been saying these past couple of weeks about the hot-button subject of health care reform...
"Health care expenditures in the United States are currently about 18 percent of GDP, and this share is projected to rise sharply. If health care costs continue to grow at historical rates, the share of GDP devoted to health care in the United States is projected to reach 34 percent by 2040. For households with employer-sponsored health insurance, this trend implies that a progressively smaller fraction of their total compensation will be in the form of take-home pay and a progressively larger fraction will take the form of employer-provided health insurance.
"The rising share of health expenditures also has dire implications for government budgets. Almost half of current health care spending is covered by Federal, state, and local governments. If health care costs continue to grow at historical rates, Medicare and Medicaid spending [both federal and state] will rise to nearly 15 percent of GDP in 2040. Of this increase, roughly one-quarter is estimated to be due to the aging of the population and other demographic effects, and three-quarters is due to rising health care costs.
"Perhaps the most visible sign of the need for health care reform is the 46 million Americans currently without health insurance. CEA projections suggest that this number will rise to about 72 million in 2040 in the absence of reform. A key factor driving this trend is the tendency of small firms not to provide coverage due to the rising cost of health care." -- Council of Economic Advisers [CEA], chaired by Christina Romer [pictured], "The Economic Case for Health Care Reform" [June 2, Executive Office of the President]
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"Nobody supports the status quo. We absolutely have to have reform... If this thing gets derailed, it's going to be bad for everybody." -- James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, noting that a government plan wouldn't be needed if insurance market reforms, such as prohibiting insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, were enacted. He hopes the larger goal of health care reform -- lowering costs so more people can afford coverage -- doesn't get lost in battles over public plans and employer mandates.