Should Saskatchewan follow the lead of Alberta and BC by allowing patients to pay for an MRI if they can afford it?
That’s the question Premier Brad Wall has put on the table as his government looks for ways to bolster the efficiency of the health care system.
“It’s time for us to look at the availability of private MRIs for people like they have in Alberta,” Wall told Global News last week
Wall said many people already leave Saskatchewan to pay out of pocket for MRIs.
“If we could do that with diagnostics, with MRIs, does it make sense that the wait list will shrink?” Wall told Global News. “Those who want to pay would come off the public wait list and they’ll get their MRIs, and thereby shortening the wait list for all whether they wish to pay or not.”
Wall’s comments drew the prompt rebuke of the opposition NDP.
“Saskatchewan families don’t want two-tier health care, where you gain access to diagnosis and treatment with a credit card instead of your health card,” NDP Leader Cam Broten said in a news release. “The reality is that Mr. Wall can create two line-ups for MRIs, but there’s still only one line-up for surgeries. Patients who need surgery but can’t afford to buy an expensive, private MRI will wait even longer while patients who can afford a quick, but expensive MRI get on the surgery list ahead of them. That’s just wrong.”
Broten said current wait times are “far too long,” but access should be improved for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
He refuted the notion that a separate diagnostic stream for the wealthy shortens weight times. He said the Canadian Institute of Health Information reports that the typical wait for an MRI scan in Alberta, where private MRIs are in place, was 80 days in 2013, much longer than the 28-day wait in Saskatchewan.
Broten said expanding the public system is a sustainable solution.
