REGINA – The Sask Party government is pushing back on NDP claims that the government is seeking to privatize health care delivery in the province.
“The lost and reckless NDP say new ideas are needed in healthcare but reject new ideas in healthcare,” the government said in a news release.
The reaction was in response to the latest NDP news conference at the Legislature on Tuesday, in which Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Health Critic Meara Conway took aim at a year end interview Premier Scott Moe conducted with Rebel News.
During that interview Moe said that the “number one issue for us in the province and back to not just in urban centres but every family across Saskatchewan is ‘do I have access to a primary health care provider?’ and ‘do I have access to a surgery if I need it in a timely manner?’ And we’re going to have the answers to those questions over the course of this next year.”
Moe added that what “you are going to see in the next number of months, going into the next year, (is) a very open discussion. You've seen some of it in Alberta recently, too, but a very open discussion about delivering health care in a very innovative way, a different way, and always putting the patient at the very centre of that discussion and the service that that patient expects and is able to be provided.”
That response drew alarms from Beck, who said Moe “now seems to be dead set on charging people to access health care in this province.”
Beck claimed that Moe had told Rebel News that "he will follow Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, something that I don't think is a surprise to many people, and move to privatize health care, dismantling public delivery for the majority of Saskatchewan people who can't afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for the health care that they need,” Beck said.
“Let's be clear about what is happening in Alberta. Danielle Smith is rapidly moving towards American-style two-tier health care that would allow the establishment of private health insurance. This would open the door, allowing private payment for medically necessary care for people in that province.”
When challenged by a reporter who noted Moe never used the word “privatization” in his remarks, Beck said “if you look at what's going on in Alberta, they've said the quiet part out loud. It's pretty clear what their intention is, is to introduce, you know, up to and including private health care insurance in that province…
"You know, Scott Moe suggests he's been open. They ducked questions about this during session, you know, refused to answer a question. Then he sits down in in a media interview at the end of the year and starts talking very favourably about what is happening in Alberta… Scott Moe maybe has lacked the courage to use the word privatization, but that's exactly what he's talking about here.”
Beck also repeated her call for an emergency sitting of the Legislature on affordability. On private health care, Beck said that “we will not let that happen without a fight in this province.”
“If he wants to have an open discussion, have the courage to come back into the legislature, let's let him say exactly what he's planning to do when it comes to privatization. And let's have a discussion about that here in Saskatchewan, the birthplace of Medicare, because I'm not sure that he understands the fight that he's in for.”
In their response the Sask Party government dismissed the NDP criticisms.
“They can attempt to frame this anyway they want, but the fact remains our government will continue to pursue innovative approaches to ensure Saskatchewan families can access high-quality healthcare close to home. That includes delivery of some publicly-funded, privately-delivered health services and the virtual physician program which the NDP have already committed to eliminating. This would result in the cancellation of thousands of surgeries and diagnostic procedures performed in Saskatchewan each year, further increasing waitlist times.”
