'It isn't enough, but it's hard to turn down': Saskatchewan reaches health care agreement with federal government

The Government of Saskatchewan has reached an agreement-in-principle with the federal government on health care funding.

The agreement provides the province with a one-time $61 million investment to address immediate needs like emergency room and surgivcal wait times. It also adds $111 million annually to the $6.4 billion provincial health care budget under bilateral agreements, according to the province.

“On behalf of Saskatchewan, we’re happy that the federal government has stepped up with some dollars,” Minister of Health Paul Merriman told reporters in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

The province met with federal ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Jean-Yves Dulcos approximately 10 days ago.

Merriman described the meeting as a “good discussion” on how the province could adapt the federal program into Saskatchewan to meet specific needs and issues.

Mental health and addictions, primary care, as well as care for seniors remain priorities for the federal government, Merriman explained.

The province will be required to prove that funding is going towards these categories in the form of an action plan, something that the health minister feels will be easy for the province to achieve.

“We feel that the programs we have, that have been in place for months right now, will meet those objectives from the federal government,” he said.

“They’re giving us the money so they would like to know what money is being spent on and we’re going to provide that.”

When asked about the amount province’s initial reluctance around the federal proposal, Merriman explained that it's still not enough funds and that the province will be forced to fill any shortcomings going forward.

“I think the impact of the shortfalls is the provinces have to pick up any slack. The federal government is in and around 22-23 per cent of their funding, they’re supposed to be at 35 [per cent],” he explained.

“Again it isn’t enough … but it’s hard to turn down federal dollars, it’s just not the amount we were looking for and we wanted to make sure we had the ability to tailor those dollars to meet provincial needs.”

The agreement marks the first step for a shared plan that will invest $5.94 billion in federal funding over 10 years in the province.

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Doctors think it's an opportunity to revamp health care delivery to a team based approach.

“You can put a bucket under the leaking pipe and that solves some of the problem but if you can spend some money and actually fix the leak, that’s a better way of dealing with the problem and so that’s what really needs to be done,' said Dr. Andries Muller at the Sask. College of Physicians and Surgeons. Upfront, there needs to be some system changes.”

The NDP opposition agrees.

“More money is needed but thoughtful planning with input from those frontline workers, from the providers, from communities is also needed," said NDP leader Carla Beck.

In a news release from Health Canada, the federal government explained that it will work with the province to “streamline foreign credential recognition for internationally educated health care professionals and advance labour mobility for key health professionals.”

“Today’s agreement-in-principle with Saskatchewan is an opportunity to continue our collaboration and improve the experience of health workers and those they care for,” federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, said in the release.

“It will modernize our health care system, improve access to family health services and mental health services, reduce surgical backlogs and support health workers.”

In regards to the $61 million one-time investment, it isn’t a game changer, according to the province.

“The majority of the issues we are that facing are human resource issues,” Merriman said.

“A lot of our investments and incentives are focused on making sure rural Saskatchewan is stabilized and this [$61 million] will certainly help out. But again, when we’re talking about a $6.4 billion budget, a one time funding of $61 million is a large amount … but when we’re averaging about $20 million a day that we’re spending on the healthcare budget, this isn’t going to move things dramatically.”

Initial work on the agreement will include a three year action plan that will detail targets and timelines for health care priorities in the province, the federal release explained.

Saskatchewan is the eighth province to strike a deal with Ottawa over health care.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau initially introduced the $196 billion, 10-year health care funding proposal to Canada’s premiers on Feb. 7, 2023.

The federal money comes with some expectations. Ottawa wants improvements to the health care system that are apparent to Saskatchewan residents and that access to healthcare be guaranteed based on need and not on the ability to pay.