Paramedics ramp up union campaign with TV ads
Last Updated: Monday, February 23, 2009 6:46 PM ET
CBC News
Paramedics say they fear their voice will be lost if they're folded into the Health Sciences Association of Alberta. (CBC)
Alberta's paramedics are launching commercials to win public support in their campaign for a separate union bargaining unit.
Starting April 1, Alberta Health Services is taking over the costs and operations of all ground ambulance services from the municipalities.
At that time, all paramedics will fall under the umbrella of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta. Paramedics are currently split between that group, the Canadian Union of Public Employees or not unionized at all.
Rick Fraser, president of CUPE local 3421, said Monday that the quality of health care could be in jeopardy if paramedics are not given their own bargaining unit to represent themselves.
"Being swept into a functional bargaining unit where the representative or people representing paramedics may be a lab technician or an ECG [electrocardiogram] tech or a massage therapist — the question is this: when an ambulance shows up at your door, do you want a massage therapist getting out of the back, or a paramedic?" he said in Calgary.CUPE's commercials can be viewed on YouTube.
The two commercials launched on Monday feature paramedics talking about the dangers of their job, and a family recalling how paramedics helped them in a car crash.
"Now paramedics face an emergency of our own," one ad says. "Our future and the quality … of your ambulance service may be at stake."
CUPE has also set up a website, ourparamedics.ca, to encourage people to write to their MLAs in support of the fight.
Fraser said times have changed from 30 years ago when ambulance staff were only expected to put a patient in a vehicle and "drive really fast."
"Today we're performing minor surgery to secure airways, very similar to an emergency physician," he said. "We perform life-saving procedures, quality-of-life procedures every day, and that's because paramedics have been able to represent paramedics."
Fraser said his group has sent a letter outlining its arguments to the province.Rick Fraser, president of CUPE local 3421, spoke at a news conference in Calgary on Monday. (CBC)
But Alberta Health Services said paramedics have nothing to fear, and patients will receive the same, if not better, standard of care after the takeover.
"Our first priority throughout this entire transition is to ensure service delivery with absolutely no degradation to services and no gap in service, "said Shelia Rougeau, spokeswoman for EMS-Alberta Health Services.
David Eggen, executive director for Friends of Medicare, said the current patchwork system could improve if the province plays it right. However, he said the group is watching for transitional hiccups.
"We're concerned about just the April 1st deadline. It's fast approaching and I think there's lots of unanswered questions," Eggen said from Edmonton.
Alberta will not be alone when the takeover occurs; British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia all run provincial emergency medical services.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Budget Chaos strikes again
There are number of things to learn from this story in today's Calgary Herald. For one, chaos reigns as the dissolution of the regional health authorities was poorly thought out. Second, the whole business of contracting out to private clinics is a huge waste of money and filled with bureaucratic confusion. Third, Alberta Health seems willing to play games with people's health in order to spin their message that they are "tightening their belts".
Private delivery of public health services leads to two tier health care that most Albertans can't afford. Waits get longer. It costs more. We lose control of regulation of care and how the money is being spent.
Calgary patients are facing growing waiting lists for procedures like cataract removal after health officials acknowledged Thursday most private surgical clinics in the city have run out of public funding for the winter.
Surgeons at the clinics, who perform 13,000 elective procedures annually under contract with Calgary's public medical system, have already met their quota and won't be performing more operations until a new bud-get comes into effect this April.
In past years, the former Calgary Health Region allowed clinics to continue performing operations after meeting their quota, effectively running over the allotted budget in an attempt to address long surgical waiting lists.
This year, however, the new medical superboard won't pay for any additional surgeries because it's facing a $1.3 billion operating and capital deficit.
"There were past practices of allowing cost overruns to serve more patients,"said Mark Kastner, a spokesman for Alberta Health Services, the organization that took over the delivery of medical care from former health regions.
"There is more fiscal accountability now."
Doctors and health officials said many elective operations won't be performed over the next month and a half until the new budget comes into effect, including podiatry, oral, facial, cataract and other eye operations.
Dr. Robert Mitchell, an ophthalmologist who owns Mitchell Eye Centre, said the situation will increase waiting lists for patients.
At Mitchell's clinic, for example, the waiting list for cataract surgery is now about 12 months, while a year ago, there was no delay.
"Our first duty is to the patient," said Mitchell. "But we're in a system where there are no (more) funds."
Calgary area hospitals contract out all cataract surgeries, about 8,500 this year, and a variety of other procedures to private clinics.
Groups like the Calgary and Area Physicians Association said the situation facing private clinics and their patients reflects the budget crunch at the superboard.
All emergency surgeries will continue as necessary.
"It's a concern,"said Dr.Linda Slocombe, president of the association.
"It shows how tight the budgets are, and down the road you'd be concerned you might not be able to service all those needing elective surgeries."
Friends of Medicare said Thursday that Calgary's policy of contracting out to private clinics isn't working.
"It's an indication that when the chips are down, the private surgeries don't come through,"said Dave Eggen, executive director of the organization.
Cataract removal is one of five priority procedures for Alberta, and the province has pledged to cut waiting times for the surgery.
The government's wait time target for cataract surgery is 16 weeks, but most patients are now waiting 25 weeks for the procedure, according to Alberta Health's wait-list registry.
Health Minister Ron Liepert was not available for comment Thursday.
mlang@tHeHerald. Canwest.Com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Surgeons at the clinics, who perform 13,000 elective procedures annually under contract with Calgary's public medical system, have already met their quota and won't be performing more operations until a new bud-get comes into effect this April.
In past years, the former Calgary Health Region allowed clinics to continue performing operations after meeting their quota, effectively running over the allotted budget in an attempt to address long surgical waiting lists.
This year, however, the new medical superboard won't pay for any additional surgeries because it's facing a $1.3 billion operating and capital deficit.
"There were past practices of allowing cost overruns to serve more patients,"said Mark Kastner, a spokesman for Alberta Health Services, the organization that took over the delivery of medical care from former health regions.
"There is more fiscal accountability now."
Doctors and health officials said many elective operations won't be performed over the next month and a half until the new budget comes into effect, including podiatry, oral, facial, cataract and other eye operations.
Dr. Robert Mitchell, an ophthalmologist who owns Mitchell Eye Centre, said the situation will increase waiting lists for patients.
At Mitchell's clinic, for example, the waiting list for cataract surgery is now about 12 months, while a year ago, there was no delay.
"Our first duty is to the patient," said Mitchell. "But we're in a system where there are no (more) funds."
Calgary area hospitals contract out all cataract surgeries, about 8,500 this year, and a variety of other procedures to private clinics.
Groups like the Calgary and Area Physicians Association said the situation facing private clinics and their patients reflects the budget crunch at the superboard.
All emergency surgeries will continue as necessary.
"It's a concern,"said Dr.Linda Slocombe, president of the association.
"It shows how tight the budgets are, and down the road you'd be concerned you might not be able to service all those needing elective surgeries."
Friends of Medicare said Thursday that Calgary's policy of contracting out to private clinics isn't working.
"It's an indication that when the chips are down, the private surgeries don't come through,"said Dave Eggen, executive director of the organization.
Cataract removal is one of five priority procedures for Alberta, and the province has pledged to cut waiting times for the surgery.
The government's wait time target for cataract surgery is 16 weeks, but most patients are now waiting 25 weeks for the procedure, according to Alberta Health's wait-list registry.
Health Minister Ron Liepert was not available for comment Thursday.
mlang@tHeHerald. Canwest.Com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Website Changes
If you haven't noticed already, we have lost the ability to update parts of our website. However, you can join and donate without a problem, and all updates will take place under the "blog" section. We will post all events and updates in this blog section until the new website is ready.
Friends of Medicare meetings coming up:
February 18th 12-1 p.m. Strathcona Senior's drop in Centre
February 19th 12-1 p.m. Lions Senior's drop in centre
February 23rd St. Paul rec centre 7 p.m.
February 25rd Wild rose senior's centre 9612 172 street Edmonton
February 26th Calder Senior's Drop in centre 12963 120 street Edmonton
March 2nd Caleb Manor 6411 199 street Edmonton
Friends of Medicare meetings coming up:
February 18th 12-1 p.m. Strathcona Senior's drop in Centre
February 19th 12-1 p.m. Lions Senior's drop in centre
February 23rd St. Paul rec centre 7 p.m.
February 25rd Wild rose senior's centre 9612 172 street Edmonton
February 26th Calder Senior's Drop in centre 12963 120 street Edmonton
March 2nd Caleb Manor 6411 199 street Edmonton
Monday, February 16, 2009
Maybe its too generous to think that Stelmach, Liepert and the rest are executing a masterplan to subvert public health care - its more likely that they simply out to lunch.
For years they ran the province like they were the board of governors presiding over the Calgary Stampede - now the party is over and there is a big mess to clean up. Stelmach, Liepert et al look scared and clueless now that they don't have the billions to throw around. Lets make sure they don't let our health system fall to pieces.
Calgary has received its fair share of health-care funding --with $1.5 billion for several projects --Health Minister Ron Liepert said Sunday, responding to criticisms over the expansion at the Peter Lougheed Centre.
"Damn it all, I'm sick and tired of people whining about not enough health-care facilities in the city," he said.
Liepert noted the province has funded expansions at all three major hospitals, along with a long-term-care facility and the East Calgary Health Centre, among other projects.
His comments come after a contractor sent out letters encouraging citizens to complain to politicians that the Peter Lougheed expansion will not be completed without additional funding. The contractor said only three floors will be complete by the summer, with the other floors remaining empty shells.
Liepert said the province, which gave $222 million to fund the expansion in 2005, had never committed to complete all of the floors. That project, he said, would be considered along with all of the other unfunded requests across the province.
"At the end of the day, it will be caucus that will determine what is funded or unfunded," he said.
For years they ran the province like they were the board of governors presiding over the Calgary Stampede - now the party is over and there is a big mess to clean up. Stelmach, Liepert et al look scared and clueless now that they don't have the billions to throw around. Lets make sure they don't let our health system fall to pieces.
Calgary has received its fair share of health-care funding --with $1.5 billion for several projects --Health Minister Ron Liepert said Sunday, responding to criticisms over the expansion at the Peter Lougheed Centre.
"Damn it all, I'm sick and tired of people whining about not enough health-care facilities in the city," he said.
Liepert noted the province has funded expansions at all three major hospitals, along with a long-term-care facility and the East Calgary Health Centre, among other projects.
His comments come after a contractor sent out letters encouraging citizens to complain to politicians that the Peter Lougheed expansion will not be completed without additional funding. The contractor said only three floors will be complete by the summer, with the other floors remaining empty shells.
Liepert said the province, which gave $222 million to fund the expansion in 2005, had never committed to complete all of the floors. That project, he said, would be considered along with all of the other unfunded requests across the province.
"At the end of the day, it will be caucus that will determine what is funded or unfunded," he said.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Leaving no one Behind
Leaving no one behind
Rachel Hendricks
Booster contributor
Rural medical care is getting a facelift in this province, and Dave Eggen, executive director for Friends of Medicare, wants Jasperites going in with their "eyes wide open."
Friends of Medicare, a volunteer organization that advocates for public health care, held a meeting on Saturday, Jan. 31 in the Emergency Services Building to give locals the opportunity to discuss what Eggen called "big changes" to provincial health care.
In 2008, Alberta Health and Wellness Minister Ron Leipert announced that the delivery of health care in small town hospitals required review. The research firm McKinsey and Co. was commissioned to do the study and has since made its recommendations.
"They definitely want to target rural health delivery," said Eggen.
Eggen explained that while medical services in Jasper have already been significantly reduced in the last few years, Jasperites should expect even more changes. One of these changes, Eggen said, could be the consolidation of Jasper and Hinton services.
This would be in accordance with one of the main suggestions coming from the McKinsey report—that some small hospitals be converted into ambulatory care centres. The reason, the report says, is that many rural hospitals have lower occupancy rates than in cities, leaving hospital beds empty and inefficiencies in the system.
As the province is moving closer towards a more population-based approach to health care delivery, Eggen said that Jasper should remind the province of its unique situation.
"They’re making these decisions now," said Eggen. "You have to make sure you advocate for extenuating circumstances."
Ken Kuzminski, Yellowhead’s NDP candidate in the last federal election, was in attendance at the meeting and he said that a concern of his, in light of the expected changes, is Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Jasper. Kuzminski pointed to the fact that Jasper sees a high volume of visitors and seasonal employees in the summer months, and that the local EMS also provides services throughout Jasper National Park.
Eggen said it is important that community members get their input on this issue in soon, so that the government does not just use the "standard formula" for Jasper.
In an interview following the meeting, Kuzminski said his concern over the future of EMS in Jasper was one of the reasons he attended the meeting.
"We have a top notch first-responding system in Jasper," said Kuzminski. "I hope that it is maintained with the changeover."
Kusminski added that he hopes it is not a population-based decision for Jasper. He also said he plans to talk to West Yellowhead MLA Robin Campbell to make sure he’s advocating this on Jasper’s behalf.
Also discussed at the meeting was something that affects all Albertans—the issue of privatization.
"We don’t want to see it happen here in Canada," said Eggen, speaking on behalf of Medicare.
Eggen assured meeting attendees that Medicare is keeping a close eye on health care in Alberta. He said the organization is about making sure that "no one gets left behind. That’s the essence of Medicare."
For more information about Friends of Medicare, visit www.friendsofmedicare.ab.ca
Rachel Hendricks
Booster contributor
Rural medical care is getting a facelift in this province, and Dave Eggen, executive director for Friends of Medicare, wants Jasperites going in with their "eyes wide open."
Friends of Medicare, a volunteer organization that advocates for public health care, held a meeting on Saturday, Jan. 31 in the Emergency Services Building to give locals the opportunity to discuss what Eggen called "big changes" to provincial health care.
In 2008, Alberta Health and Wellness Minister Ron Leipert announced that the delivery of health care in small town hospitals required review. The research firm McKinsey and Co. was commissioned to do the study and has since made its recommendations.
"They definitely want to target rural health delivery," said Eggen.
Eggen explained that while medical services in Jasper have already been significantly reduced in the last few years, Jasperites should expect even more changes. One of these changes, Eggen said, could be the consolidation of Jasper and Hinton services.
This would be in accordance with one of the main suggestions coming from the McKinsey report—that some small hospitals be converted into ambulatory care centres. The reason, the report says, is that many rural hospitals have lower occupancy rates than in cities, leaving hospital beds empty and inefficiencies in the system.
As the province is moving closer towards a more population-based approach to health care delivery, Eggen said that Jasper should remind the province of its unique situation.
"They’re making these decisions now," said Eggen. "You have to make sure you advocate for extenuating circumstances."
Ken Kuzminski, Yellowhead’s NDP candidate in the last federal election, was in attendance at the meeting and he said that a concern of his, in light of the expected changes, is Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Jasper. Kuzminski pointed to the fact that Jasper sees a high volume of visitors and seasonal employees in the summer months, and that the local EMS also provides services throughout Jasper National Park.
Eggen said it is important that community members get their input on this issue in soon, so that the government does not just use the "standard formula" for Jasper.
In an interview following the meeting, Kuzminski said his concern over the future of EMS in Jasper was one of the reasons he attended the meeting.
"We have a top notch first-responding system in Jasper," said Kuzminski. "I hope that it is maintained with the changeover."
Kusminski added that he hopes it is not a population-based decision for Jasper. He also said he plans to talk to West Yellowhead MLA Robin Campbell to make sure he’s advocating this on Jasper’s behalf.
Also discussed at the meeting was something that affects all Albertans—the issue of privatization.
"We don’t want to see it happen here in Canada," said Eggen, speaking on behalf of Medicare.
Eggen assured meeting attendees that Medicare is keeping a close eye on health care in Alberta. He said the organization is about making sure that "no one gets left behind. That’s the essence of Medicare."
For more information about Friends of Medicare, visit www.friendsofmedicare.ab.ca
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Health construction in Alberta may be delayed, says minister
Health Minister Ron Liepert said Monday some health construction projects in Alberta, such as new hospitals, could be delayed or altered in the face of cost overruns and shrinking government revenues.
Alberta Health and the new medical superboard are reviewing the province's health capital plan--which includes $4 billion in projects over the next three years --before allowing the Tory caucus to decide what should proceed, he said.
"There will have to be some decisions made that some things will go ahead, some will go ahead in a different model than what they'd originally thought and there may be some that can't go ahead at all," said Liepert, in a telephone interview.
But critics said the province should not cancel capital projects in the face of a recession.
The Alberta Liberals argued the province should spend the money to build badly needed hospitals, which would also create construction jobs and stimulate Alberta's sagging economy.
"It's appropriate to review (capital projects), but it's not appropriate to hold back at this time when we need a decisive, bold plan to deal with a recession," said David Swann, the Alberta Liberal leader.
It appears, however, some construction work is already stalled.
Liepert said several projects are on hold for now, as is the case in High Prairie, where government had previously committed $60 million for a new hospital. Bids for the project came in at twice that amount.
In Grande Prairie, work on a long-awaited new hospital has not started and won't until the review is complete.
The minister said construction is proceeding as planned on the south Calgary hospital.
Liepert said it's necessary to review the capital plan because falling oil and gas revenues have eliminated the provincial surplus this year. In recent years, government has allocated a portion of the surplus to pay for construction cost overruns.
Liepert said the capital plan must also be reviewed in light of his move to reform health care in the province. For example, Alberta is moving toward more designated assisted living facilities, in place of traditional nursing homes. He said planned long-term care facilities in locations such as Didsbury and Strath-more need to be reassessed to determine whether they require structural changes under the new model.
The minister said he also wanted to ex-amine proposals for new cancer centres in Calgary and Edmonton, which have not yet been included in the province's health capital plan.
Alberta Health Services officials con-firmed Monday they are reviewing capital projects, but wouldn't say whether any would be cancelled or changed.
"It's part of our discussions with Alberta Health as part of the (spring)budget process," said Mark Kastner, a spokesman with the health superboard.
Liepert said he hopes to bring a proposal for a capital plan to caucus before this year's budget.
Health-care lobby groups reacted with disappointment to the minister's comments, saying the cost of construction projects should be going down now that Alberta's overheated economy is cooling off.
"This is a great time to invest in your social infrastructure," said Dave Eggen of Friends of Medicare.
News that the government could delay or change health capital projects comes after reports last week suggested the province may cut public funding for some health services such as chiropractic care and wart removal.
Employment Minister Hector Goudreau told constituents in Grimshaw that the government is looking at delisting about 30 services from medicare that don't require coverage under the Canada Health Act.
mlang@theherald.canwest.com
Thursday, February 5, 2009
De-Listing of Services - Alberta's shame
Note how they call Medicare a "beast"
Certainly, these people are offensive!
The province is considering delisting about 30 services from medicare that don't require coverage under the Canada Health Act, Alberta's employment and immigration minister told an audience in Grimshaw this week.
Hector Goudreau said the province is debating whether services such as chiropractic care and mole extraction should be removed from coverage.
"There's no need to cover them," Goudreau told a Grimshaw Rotary club meeting on Tuesday, according to the Mile Zero News, a weekly paper in the town south of Peace River.
"Our system is totally not sustainable."
The weekly newspaper's story on the minister's speech is slated to run Feb. 11.
Goudreau, who is the area's MLA, said the money saved would be used to bulk up coverage under Alberta Blue Cross.
After speaking with the local newspaper, Goudreau wasn't available for an interview with The Journal.
Health Minister Ron Liepert said the government is going line by line through the entire health budget to make sure money is being spent properly.
"Quite frankly, I wouldn't be doing my job as minister if we didn't look at every line of expenditure in our budget and ask the question, do we need to spend that money?" Liepert said, noting that anything protected under the Canada Health Act will continue to be covered.
Currently, Alberta covers some services not listed under the Canada Health Act, including up to $200 in chiropractic care, up to $250 for foot care and free annual eye exams for seniors and children.
Liepert said the government regularly examines what to cover and not cover. Last year, for instance, the province announced it would cover expensive catastrophic drug costs for Albertans with rare disorders.
"Are we going to spend the same amount of dollars on the same amount of programs that we spent last year?" he said. "I can't say that we are, because we have to go through our budget to ensure that every budget expenditure is justified."
During an interview, Liepert initially said the province had no plans for delisting, then reversed course.
"I don't think I said there were no plans to do any delisting," he said. "I guess it depends on what you call delisting. All I said is we are in the process of preparing our budget."
In 2003, a report commissioned by the government found the province could save $40 million a year by reducing -- but not completely cutting -- coverage for chiropractic services, podiatry care and annual eye exams for children and seniors.
But the government axed the idea as soon as the report was released, saying the millions in savings were insignificant compared with the $7.3-billion health budget.
Bob Westbury, chairman of the panel that produced the report, said at the time, "I am absolutely terrified that if we don't get control of this beast we are going to be in very, very serious difficulties."
Since then, the budget has ballooned to $13.4 billion and Alberta Health Services is facing a $1.3-billion deficit.
John Church, a political science professor at the University of Alberta who focuses on health policy, said he suspects the government wants MLAs to speak about the issue to see how much the public will push back, especially in traditional Tory territory.
He said the government has more political leverage now than in 2003 to consider delisting, because of the bad economic times.
He said the government will likely be careful about what services to delist, and suspects wart removal won't be a hot-button issue, although chiropractic care may be another matter.
"This has been controversial because deciding what is basic health care involves a bit of a value judgment, and it's quite complicated," Church said.
David Eggen, executive director with Friends of Medicare, said all the services are medically necessary.
'ARBITRARY DECISION'
"What makes them necessary one day and not necessary the next?" Eggen said. "It's an arbitrary decision by the government to narrow the scope of public health care. If they are changing the definition of what is medically necessary, they are not doing it for medical reasons, they're doing it for political and economic reasons."
He said if services are delisted, people will chose not to have medical procedures done for financial rather than health reasons.
"I don't think Albertans will find this acceptable," Eggen said.
"The government best be careful. They are playing with dynamite when they start delisting medically necessary services ... You still have to provide these services to the public. It's not as if the health issues go away."
Phylis Matousek, a longtime seniors activist who requires $758 orthotic shoes, said any move to delist services must take into consideration the financial reality for seniors. She is squeezed by housing and food costs, as well as other payments for non-medical services -- $20 to have her house vacuumed, $15 to have someone buy her groceries -- because her health limits her.
"It's going to really cut into the fingernails when some of us are hanging on by our fingernails," Matousek said. "We're going to have a financial manicure."
Liberal Leader David Swann called on Liepert -- not rural MLAs -- to speak publicly about any changes planned for the health-care system.
"For a province that's been in multibillion-dollar surpluses this past 12 years, it's pretty hard to swallow that this government is now unable to provide medically necessary services to people the first year we have been faced with less than a $12-billion surplus," Swann said.
"This will raise hackles and raise serious medical concerns about whether we're being penny wise and pound foolish, because if these things are neglected, they're only going to come back and add to the health system problems and the wait lists and the chronic health issues."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
Certainly, these people are offensive!
The province is considering delisting about 30 services from medicare that don't require coverage under the Canada Health Act, Alberta's employment and immigration minister told an audience in Grimshaw this week.
Hector Goudreau said the province is debating whether services such as chiropractic care and mole extraction should be removed from coverage.
"There's no need to cover them," Goudreau told a Grimshaw Rotary club meeting on Tuesday, according to the Mile Zero News, a weekly paper in the town south of Peace River.
"Our system is totally not sustainable."
The weekly newspaper's story on the minister's speech is slated to run Feb. 11.
Goudreau, who is the area's MLA, said the money saved would be used to bulk up coverage under Alberta Blue Cross.
After speaking with the local newspaper, Goudreau wasn't available for an interview with The Journal.
Health Minister Ron Liepert said the government is going line by line through the entire health budget to make sure money is being spent properly.
"Quite frankly, I wouldn't be doing my job as minister if we didn't look at every line of expenditure in our budget and ask the question, do we need to spend that money?" Liepert said, noting that anything protected under the Canada Health Act will continue to be covered.
Currently, Alberta covers some services not listed under the Canada Health Act, including up to $200 in chiropractic care, up to $250 for foot care and free annual eye exams for seniors and children.
Liepert said the government regularly examines what to cover and not cover. Last year, for instance, the province announced it would cover expensive catastrophic drug costs for Albertans with rare disorders.
"Are we going to spend the same amount of dollars on the same amount of programs that we spent last year?" he said. "I can't say that we are, because we have to go through our budget to ensure that every budget expenditure is justified."
During an interview, Liepert initially said the province had no plans for delisting, then reversed course.
"I don't think I said there were no plans to do any delisting," he said. "I guess it depends on what you call delisting. All I said is we are in the process of preparing our budget."
In 2003, a report commissioned by the government found the province could save $40 million a year by reducing -- but not completely cutting -- coverage for chiropractic services, podiatry care and annual eye exams for children and seniors.
But the government axed the idea as soon as the report was released, saying the millions in savings were insignificant compared with the $7.3-billion health budget.
Bob Westbury, chairman of the panel that produced the report, said at the time, "I am absolutely terrified that if we don't get control of this beast we are going to be in very, very serious difficulties."
Since then, the budget has ballooned to $13.4 billion and Alberta Health Services is facing a $1.3-billion deficit.
John Church, a political science professor at the University of Alberta who focuses on health policy, said he suspects the government wants MLAs to speak about the issue to see how much the public will push back, especially in traditional Tory territory.
He said the government has more political leverage now than in 2003 to consider delisting, because of the bad economic times.
He said the government will likely be careful about what services to delist, and suspects wart removal won't be a hot-button issue, although chiropractic care may be another matter.
"This has been controversial because deciding what is basic health care involves a bit of a value judgment, and it's quite complicated," Church said.
David Eggen, executive director with Friends of Medicare, said all the services are medically necessary.
'ARBITRARY DECISION'
"What makes them necessary one day and not necessary the next?" Eggen said. "It's an arbitrary decision by the government to narrow the scope of public health care. If they are changing the definition of what is medically necessary, they are not doing it for medical reasons, they're doing it for political and economic reasons."
He said if services are delisted, people will chose not to have medical procedures done for financial rather than health reasons.
"I don't think Albertans will find this acceptable," Eggen said.
"The government best be careful. They are playing with dynamite when they start delisting medically necessary services ... You still have to provide these services to the public. It's not as if the health issues go away."
Phylis Matousek, a longtime seniors activist who requires $758 orthotic shoes, said any move to delist services must take into consideration the financial reality for seniors. She is squeezed by housing and food costs, as well as other payments for non-medical services -- $20 to have her house vacuumed, $15 to have someone buy her groceries -- because her health limits her.
"It's going to really cut into the fingernails when some of us are hanging on by our fingernails," Matousek said. "We're going to have a financial manicure."
Liberal Leader David Swann called on Liepert -- not rural MLAs -- to speak publicly about any changes planned for the health-care system.
"For a province that's been in multibillion-dollar surpluses this past 12 years, it's pretty hard to swallow that this government is now unable to provide medically necessary services to people the first year we have been faced with less than a $12-billion surplus," Swann said.
"This will raise hackles and raise serious medical concerns about whether we're being penny wise and pound foolish, because if these things are neglected, they're only going to come back and add to the health system problems and the wait lists and the chronic health issues."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Important Meetings in Edmonton and Calgary
This is a reminder of two important meetings. Now is the time to step up and become a friend of medicare. We need your help to fight de-listing, private clinics and facility closures. It is happening now!
Edmonton
Tuesday, Feb. 10th, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.
Stanley A. Milner Public Library
7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton Room (downstairs)
Contact: 780-423-4581
Calgary
Thursday, February 12th, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.
Unitarian Church
1703 1st Street NW (side entrance from 1st street NW near Centre street north and 16th ave. NW)
Contact: 403 286 9283
Edmonton
Tuesday, Feb. 10th, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.
Stanley A. Milner Public Library
7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton Room (downstairs)
Contact: 780-423-4581
Calgary
Thursday, February 12th, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.
Unitarian Church
1703 1st Street NW (side entrance from 1st street NW near Centre street north and 16th ave. NW)
Contact: 403 286 9283
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