The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Much has been written about medicare in Manitoba since the NDP took over in 1999, and the great increases in spending in the past five years on health care which at last glance was gobbling up 42 per cent of Manitoba's entire yearly budget ?with more to come. Our share of Paul Martin's taxpayer cash is $75 million more this year alone. What will happen to this money? Will it be spent wisely or just spent? What about the looming contract demands of Manitoba's 11,000 nurses whose 2002 agreement will soon expire? Will Gary Doer be able to reject increases outright for them with still a nursing shortage in the province, and the public knowledge that he received another $75 million? Manitoba's Health Minister was ecstatic, saying with a smile that we will get more than $60,000 per day, which can be used to provide more doctors, deal with the nurses, and cut waiting times for surgery. Winnipeg Free Press writer Catherine Mitchell appears to be following Fred Cleverly as the paper's "right thinking" writer in contrast to ultra-left Frances Russell. Russell's claim in late August was that the "unite the right" failed dismally in the Federal election. She uses vote statistics to assert that the Conservative share of the vote was down drastically in all provinces. The use of the stats is dubious at best with the most humorous the Liberal's seven per cent jump in Saskatchewan's popular vote. Tell that to the 13 Liberal candidates who were soundly thrashed in the Wheat Province. In any case Mitchell has done a fair bit of research into health care spending in Canada and Manitoba, a lot of which has been written about in this column. Mitchell picks up on Stuart Murray's constant claim that "Gary Doer has a spending problem, not a revenue problem" although she does mention that revenues are dropping (due mainly to the smoke ban) in casinos, bars, etc. She points out that the NDP has added six to seven per cent each year to the health budget, with few, if any reforms taking place. She, and many others note that Manitoba, with the highest per capita health spending in Canada has too many small rural hospitals and inefficient large hospitals in Winnipeg, plus wildly increasing drug costs (millions more because of the lack of generic drug prescriptions). Mitchell and other critics see little hope for reforms in our province, which would require "hard work and political risk-taking." There are a couple of reforms taking place in Manitoba which may improve the health system, at least in preventative health. One is the decision by Manitoba Health to provide free flu shots to all infants at a cost of $2 million per year. Those over 65 have free shots but others have to pay (in Ontario they are free for everyone.) It is believed that the vaccines will reduce hospital visits and thus lower medicare costs. A second reform is the oft-mentioned smoke ban in Manitoba which began October 1st. Healthy-living minister Jim Rondeau is convinced that the ban will cause many to quit the habit and save workers and others from the dangers of second-hand smoke, thus relieving the health-care system. What he hasn't mentioned is if the government will be providing incentives and aids (tax-free and tax-deductible nicotine patches are one suggestion) to help people quit the habit. Maybe this will happen and perhaps the ban will be successful, but critics are not sure. They point out that precious little help is being provided for problem gamblers in the province, in fact the NDP minister, Scott Smith even refuses to discuss the topic or reveal how much is being spent on such help. At the Federal- Provincial health funding meetings, many were surprised at the changes and antics of Premier Gary Doer. The former "Mr. nice guy" in contrast to Ralph Klein, became "Mr. Belligerent", using sound bites and media opportunities to belittle the Prime Minister's offers. "Silly" and "bush league" are his two best remembered comments, regarding the Liberal's money offers and tactics at the meeting. Is this the new Gary Doer, or was he simply trying to be noticed at the meeting? PC leader Stuart Murray has some pointed criticisms of the Premier and his actions. In a press release titled "Money alone won't fix Manitoba's health system" Murray blasts Doer for not seeking any reforms in the system, and says that his stated "hope for health care for a decade" will be as meaningless as his 1999 promise to end hallway medicine with $15 million more money. Murray fears that the $75 million will just be spent to maintain the status quo, and that the decision to start the tracking system in December, 2005 is way too long. The Tory leader points out again that in spite of a 50 per cent increase in funding in the past five years, the system has not improved, but has just become impossibly expensive. He insists that Doer spend the new money on reducing waiting lists and report the expenditures back to Manitobans. Murray concludes that "If Doer was a little less preoccupied with World Cup Hockey? and more focused on the job at hand we would have gotten a better deal for Manitoba!" Ouch! Can we expect any reforms from the "new" Gary Doer and his beleaguered Health Minister? Can wait times be reduced for testing and treatment? Saskatchewan and Alberta have computerized the waiting lists and compared them to all hospitals in the provinces to speed up the system. Ralph Klein announced he will continue to carry out reforms in Alberta regardless of what the Feds do, but of course he has all that oil money and no debt. We can only wait and see if Manitoba can increase care and reduce the increased costs. Let's hope they will try.
