B.C. gets money for addictions and mental health in federal deal
Federal
Health Minister Jane Philpott (right) and her B.C. counterpart Terry
Lake announce their governments have reached an agreement on health care
funding at a news conference in Richmond on Friday.
Federal
Health Minister Jane Philpott listens as her B.C. counterpart Terry
Lake speaks at a Friday news conference in Richmond on their
governments’ agreement on health care funding.
Federal
Health Minister Jane Philpott (right) and her B.C. counterpart Terry
Lake announce their governments have reached an agreement on health care
funding at a news conference in Richmond on Friday.
B.C.
Health Minister Terry Lake, front right, and Chief Coroner Lisa
Lapointe, from left to right, Dr. Mark Tyndall, Executive Director of
the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, and Provincial Health Officer Dr.
Perry Kendall listen during a news conference after a meeting about the
drug overdose emergency situation in the province, in Vancouver, B.C.,
on Thursday June 9, 2016.
VICTORIA
— After decrying Ottawa’s “divide and conquer” approach on health care
agreements, British Columbia signed its own side deal on Friday to get
extra cash for its ongoing drug-overdose crisis.
B.C. had been one of the most vocal critics of Ottawa’s strategy to pick off provinces one by one with special agreements, rather than negotiate across-the-board health transfers with all the provinces. Health Minister Terry Lake had described the federal offers as “take it or leave it,” shockingly low and an attempt to “divide and conquer” the provinces.
But B.C. officials said Friday they eventually decided to settle the feud, because they wanted to present a united Canadian front to the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump in the softwood lumber trade dispute.
Lake and his federal counterpart, Health Minister Jane Philpott, announced the funding in Richmond.
“Ottawa has been a very tough negotiator,” said Lake. “I would be lying if we didn’t say we were hoping for more. But now we have this agreement and it’s time to get to work.”
Lake also added that he “doesn’t make these decisions in isolation,” and mentioned Premier Christy Clark and Finance Minister Mike de Jong as being involved in deciding “we needed to move on and get busy with the work ahead of us.”
The increase in the annual health care transfer was to fall this year from six per cent to three per cent, or the rate of annual GDP growth.
The deal boosted B.C.’s federal health care transfers by 4.4 per cent annually, including $786 million for home care services (which Ottawa had previously promised) and $655 million to support mental health initiatives. The funding is over 10 years.
“We know this kind of agreement and support will assist the Government of British Columbia as they work to reduce wait times for mental health care and services especially children and youth,” said Philpott, who added the money will also help seniors stay in their homes for care rather than in hospitals.
The deal also includes $10 million to help fight the overdose crisis. Lake said B.C.’s budget, to be unveiled Tuesday, will add $5 million to the opioid task force.
B.C.’s coroner announced Friday that 116 people died from overdoses, down from 142 in December but “still far too high,” said Lake.
There were 914 deaths from overdoses in B.C. in 2016, which is a more than 80 per cent increase from 2015.
“I’d just like to note none of those deaths occurred at a supervised consumption site or an overdose prevention site,” said Lake.
He said the new federal funding “could do things like broaden the availability of Suboxone so that people have faster access to treatment” across B.C.
B.C. Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe announced Friday she was backing a proposal from chief medical health officer Perry Kendall to offer clean medical-grade heroin to those people suffering from addictions for whom oral-based treatment like Suboxone and methadone is ineffective.
That idea needs to be studied further because the public may not be ready to support free heroin, Lake has said.
B.C. had been one of the most vocal critics of Ottawa’s strategy to pick off provinces one by one with special agreements, rather than negotiate across-the-board health transfers with all the provinces. Health Minister Terry Lake had described the federal offers as “take it or leave it,” shockingly low and an attempt to “divide and conquer” the provinces.
But B.C. officials said Friday they eventually decided to settle the feud, because they wanted to present a united Canadian front to the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump in the softwood lumber trade dispute.
Lake and his federal counterpart, Health Minister Jane Philpott, announced the funding in Richmond.
“Ottawa has been a very tough negotiator,” said Lake. “I would be lying if we didn’t say we were hoping for more. But now we have this agreement and it’s time to get to work.”
Lake also added that he “doesn’t make these decisions in isolation,” and mentioned Premier Christy Clark and Finance Minister Mike de Jong as being involved in deciding “we needed to move on and get busy with the work ahead of us.”
The increase in the annual health care transfer was to fall this year from six per cent to three per cent, or the rate of annual GDP growth.
The deal boosted B.C.’s federal health care transfers by 4.4 per cent annually, including $786 million for home care services (which Ottawa had previously promised) and $655 million to support mental health initiatives. The funding is over 10 years.
“We know this kind of agreement and support will assist the Government of British Columbia as they work to reduce wait times for mental health care and services especially children and youth,” said Philpott, who added the money will also help seniors stay in their homes for care rather than in hospitals.
The deal also includes $10 million to help fight the overdose crisis. Lake said B.C.’s budget, to be unveiled Tuesday, will add $5 million to the opioid task force.
B.C.’s coroner announced Friday that 116 people died from overdoses, down from 142 in December but “still far too high,” said Lake.
There were 914 deaths from overdoses in B.C. in 2016, which is a more than 80 per cent increase from 2015.
“I’d just like to note none of those deaths occurred at a supervised consumption site or an overdose prevention site,” said Lake.
He said the new federal funding “could do things like broaden the availability of Suboxone so that people have faster access to treatment” across B.C.
B.C. Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe announced Friday she was backing a proposal from chief medical health officer Perry Kendall to offer clean medical-grade heroin to those people suffering from addictions for whom oral-based treatment like Suboxone and methadone is ineffective.
That idea needs to be studied further because the public may not be ready to support free heroin, Lake has said.
On
Friday, Philpott said Ottawa is still not interested in legalizing
illicit drugs in order to reduce the stigma and remove the drugs from
the black market and into clean settings. “There’s no discussion here
about legalizing all drugs,” she said.
The last-minute deal will affect B.C.’s provincial budget, set to be tabled Tuesday. Finance officials said it’s too late to change the budget figures, and so the document will still contain old pre-deal health funding projections.
In its most recent quarterly financial update, B.C. said it was set to lose $142 million in federal health funding in 2017-18 and $285 million in 2018-19. That was the equivalent of 5,170 complex hip replacements or 1,023 lung transplants annually, according to government financial figures.
The federal health transfers are significant because health care spending is the single largest expense in B.C.’s budget, eating up almost 41 per cent of the total $48-billion annual budget. Federal health transfers are worth almost $5 billion, and B.C. relies upon the money to help fund around half of the increase to health spending each year.
The new funding for home care services will add additional direct care hours in care homes and additional home care visits for people, said Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association.
“I think when you combine it with what I’m hoping will come out of the provincial budget next week … I think it will have a significant impact,” he said. His organization has called for B.C. to begin shifting money from the acute care hospital budgets into services that treat people (mainly seniors) in their homes where possible, which is cheaper and provides better service than a hospital.
A recent association report called for $330 million per year over the next five years to help build new care homes, increase direct care hours and increase minimum home care visit times. Fontaine said he hopes to see that money in Tuesday’s budget.
There are still four provinces that have not signed federal health deals: Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba.
Lake said he spoke to many of the politicians in those provinces and “they understand” B.C.’s decision.
rshaw@postmedia.com
twitter.com/robshaw_vansun
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.
The last-minute deal will affect B.C.’s provincial budget, set to be tabled Tuesday. Finance officials said it’s too late to change the budget figures, and so the document will still contain old pre-deal health funding projections.
In its most recent quarterly financial update, B.C. said it was set to lose $142 million in federal health funding in 2017-18 and $285 million in 2018-19. That was the equivalent of 5,170 complex hip replacements or 1,023 lung transplants annually, according to government financial figures.
The federal health transfers are significant because health care spending is the single largest expense in B.C.’s budget, eating up almost 41 per cent of the total $48-billion annual budget. Federal health transfers are worth almost $5 billion, and B.C. relies upon the money to help fund around half of the increase to health spending each year.
The new funding for home care services will add additional direct care hours in care homes and additional home care visits for people, said Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association.
“I think when you combine it with what I’m hoping will come out of the provincial budget next week … I think it will have a significant impact,” he said. His organization has called for B.C. to begin shifting money from the acute care hospital budgets into services that treat people (mainly seniors) in their homes where possible, which is cheaper and provides better service than a hospital.
A recent association report called for $330 million per year over the next five years to help build new care homes, increase direct care hours and increase minimum home care visit times. Fontaine said he hopes to see that money in Tuesday’s budget.
There are still four provinces that have not signed federal health deals: Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba.
Lake said he spoke to many of the politicians in those provinces and “they understand” B.C.’s decision.
rshaw@postmedia.com
twitter.com/robshaw_vansun
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment