Premiers agree on diagnosis, but not treatment of soaring health-care costs

WINNIPEG – Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial premiers are looking to tackle the "elephant in the room" when they meet Thursday in Winnipeg to discuss how to trim ballooning health-care costs that are eroding medical care.

Health care and sustaining the economic recovery are top agenda items for premiers gathered in the Manitoba capital for the Council of the Federation meeting.

While there appears to be consensus among premiers that health-care costs in Canada are unsustainable, the prescription for fixing the ailing system isn’t so certain.

"This is an elephant in the room for all of us," reasoned Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who’s hoping to commence a broader discussion on health financing and services.

"This system is unsustainable financially, and publicly everyone walks on eggs because they don’t want to offend anyone, but we all know the system is financially in difficulty."

Indeed, some governments are currently spending around 40 per cent or more of their total annual budget on health care, making it increasingly difficult for provinces to find additional dollars for education and other social programs.

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell agreed health-care costs remain "a significant issue" that must be addressed if the system is to survive for future generations.

He’s urging premiers to dedicate more energy and resources to preventive care, which he argues will save cash-strapped governments billions of dollars a year.

Also, all provinces should follow the western premiers’ lead and agree to bulk pharmaceutical purchases, he said, which will save billions more in drug costs.

"We should be looking at ways that we can bend that health-care cost curve down," Campbell said.

However, he said adopting user fees in the system to pay for increasingly costly treatments and drugs is not the answer.

"You can’t impose something from government that encourages people to live healthy lifestyles. We have to do this together," he added. "It’s not a solution certainly in the way anyone has chatted, talked about it before."

The premiers meetings come just days after a new report from Canada’s doctors called for the country’s health system to be "massively transformed."

The policy document from the Canadian Medical Association said the underlying principles of the Canada Health Act – universal access to health care for Canadians – are not being met and must be updated.

The CMA report said that despite tens of billions of dollars spent on health care every year, the system under-performs in key areas such as timely access, and that it is "not delivering value for the money spent."

It also described a health-care system where the most vulnerable populations are least able to access the system and where there is uneven coverage of non-hospital health services.

The study called for more incentive programs, such as pay-for-performance initiatives, in which health-care providers are rewarded for achieving a set target, as well as a charter of patients’ rights – initiatives Alberta is already pursuing.

"We have an opportunity to show leadership to other provinces," said Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.

On the economy, premiers are looking to maintain a strong economic recovery, find jobs for all Canadians and avoid a double-dip recession.

"Governments have done a lot to stimulate the economy. Now it’s time for the private sector to step up and governments to try and take down unnecessary burdens for the private sector and barriers for the private sector to invest," Campbell added.

Premiers are also expected to debate an item that’s not on the official conference agenda: the fight over the scrapping of the federal long-form census.

Provinces such as Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island are worried about the federal Conservative government’s decision to scrap the mandatory long census in favour of a voluntary survey.

Backlash is mounting from social agencies, economists and researchers who are worried the census changes could provide skewed data and a distorted snapshot of the country.

Alberta and B.C. agree the information is valuable – and want to know how Ottawa will procure it going forward – but are willing to leave the decision to the federal government.

As the federal Tories meet in Ottawa for their summer caucus, the census was being dismissed as no life or death concern.

"It’s not an issue that people are going to live and die on. I mean it’s not a big issue," said Gordon O’Connor, who is responsible for enforcing caucus solidarity and ensuring that MPs stay on message. "It may be a big issue among all the groups that care about it (if) they want free data. and it may be a big thing for the media if they can write stories for the summer. But I’m saying, so far, I’m probably going to invite more things now, but so far, I’ve had seven (complaints)."

With file from Mike De Souza (Postmedia News)