doctors

Wednesday December 21, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Wednesday December 21, 2016 Ottawa, provinces fail to reach a deal on health spending Ottawa and the provinces have failed to reach a deal on health-care funding, despite a $11.5-billion pledge by the federal government to boost targeted spending on home care and mental health. The federal government has now taken that offer off the table, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Monday, and the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) spending increase will revert to 3 per cent a year as of April 1, 2017. Morneau had told the provinces he was willing to grow that key federal transfer by 3.5 per cent each year over the next five years Ñ at a value of roughly $20 billion Ñ but the provinces balked. "We came to the provinces with a significant offer of funds ... We're disappointed we weren't successful," Morneau told reporters. Jane Philpott, Canada's health minister, said the federal government's money could have made a real difference in the lives of many Canadians. "I woke up this morning feeling very hopeful, thinking about half a million kids that are waiting for care for mental health services and hoping to be able to give them good news today," she said. "We're disappointed that the provinces and territories did not feel like they could accept this offer and that they couldn't find ways to use these resources immediately, to be able to get care out to Canadians.Ó Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said while the provinces rejected the federal funding plan, it was Morneau who was responsible for ending the meeting early. "There was an urgency to close the meeting off. We're here, we desire an agreement, we need to come to a conclusion. Why have anybody attend if there's nothing to negotiate or discuss?" Sousa said, adding Ottawa wasn't willing to listen to evidence that its proposed funding plan would imperil the country's health-care system. (Source: CBC News)Êhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/health-accord

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 21, 2016

Ottawa, provinces fail to reach a deal on health spending

Ottawa and the provinces have failed to reach a deal on health-care funding, despite a $11.5-billion pledge by the federal government to boost targeted spending on home care and mental health.

The federal government has now taken that offer off the table, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Monday, and the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) spending increase will revert to 3 per cent a year as of April 1, 2017.

Morneau had told the provinces he was willing to grow that key federal transfer by 3.5 per cent each year over the next five years — at a value of roughly $20 billion — but the provinces balked.

“We came to the provinces with a significant offer of funds … We’re disappointed we weren’t successful,” Morneau told reporters.

Jane Philpott, Canada’s health minister, said the federal government’s money could have made a real difference in the lives of many Canadians.

“I woke up this morning feeling very hopeful, thinking about half a million kids that are waiting for care for mental health services and hoping to be able to give them good news today,” she said.

“We’re disappointed that the provinces and territories did not feel like they could accept this offer and that they couldn’t find ways to use these resources immediately, to be able to get care out to Canadians.”

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said while the provinces rejected the federal funding plan, it was Morneau who was responsible for ending the meeting early.

“There was an urgency to close the meeting off. We’re here, we desire an agreement, we need to come to a conclusion. Why have anybody attend if there’s nothing to negotiate or discuss?” Sousa said, adding Ottawa wasn’t willing to listen to evidence that its proposed funding plan would imperil the country’s health-care system. (Source: CBC News)

 

Wednesday May 9, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday May 9, 2012

Lower fees forced on Ontario doctors

Sending a signal that will reverberate throughout Ontario’s broader public sector, Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals have broken with their conciliatory past by forcing a tough new deal onto Ontario’s doctors.

Less than two weeks after negotiations with the Ontario Medical Association fell apart, and despite requests by the OMA to call in a conciliator, Health Minister Deb Matthews announced Monday that a package of cuts to doctors’ fees will be unilaterally imposed through regulations, retroactive to April 1.

The abrupt manner in which the cuts were unveiled, amid claims by the OMA that Ms. Matthews has misrepresented discussions at the bargaining table, sets an aggressive tone for other negotiations – including with the province’s teachers. And it epitomized the shifting focus of a government once known for its big-spending ways.

The 37 fee-schedule changes announced Monday focus heavily (although not exclusively) on a relatively small number of high-paid specialists – mostly radiologists, ophthalmologists and cardiologists – and by the Liberals’ estimate will save $338-million in 2012-13 and $440-million in 2013-14. But sources say there are more broad-based cuts to come, to get the rest of the way to a two-year freeze in doctors’ total pay envelope.

Still on the table is the elimination of a “retention bonus,” which the Liberals had brought in to dissuade doctors from leaving the province. That benefit currently peaks at $5,000 every three years for doctors who have practised at least three decades.

The government also wants to revive so-called clawbacks of doctors’ fees once they exceed a level at which their ratio to overhead costs becomes skewed. (Source: Globe & Mail)