NDP hopes to ban private health services, increase investment in health

The Saskatchewan NDP is hoping to reform the provincial health-care system.

The party announced a new policy Wednesday entitled The Saskatchewan Medicare Protection Act.

A major change it lists is banning private health services, like user-paid MRIs. Double billing and extra charges for insured services would also be banned.

“Not only will we ban those unhelpful practices, we will also make the commitment to invest in our health-care system and bring the wait list down for MRIs and surgeries, so that patients get the health care they need when they need it,” NDP Leader Ryan Meili said during a media conference in Regina.

While he pledged to increase funding, he has not yet specified how much money would be spent if his party is elected in the upcoming election.

However, he did explain in which areas his party hopes to invest.

“We’ll be investing in diagnostic imaging and surgery with an increase in staffing, so we’re actually able to do the work and make full use of the facilities that are here … We will move away from this model of patients paying directly,” he said.

Meili said spending more on health would actually cut costs.

“If you wait months and months and months (for care), the condition gets worse. The time in hospital gets worse. If it’s a surgery, the surgery gets harder. When we invest in the right places, that actually saves us money down the road,” he said.

He believes some, including the Saskatchewan Party government, are misguided on how private options affect wait times.

“That’s what’s surprising, I suppose. A lot of people think that, ‘Well, if we have another queue, then that will shorten the public queue.’ Every time it’s done, it does the opposite. You lose people who are working in the public system and you actually increase demand,” he continued.

Ricki Steffen, a Regina woman with degenerative disc disease, joined Meili at the announcement of the NDP’s plans for health care.

She has struggled with long wait times in the public health-care system, and would like to see the NDP’s changes implemented.

“I’m told that I could be waiting up to a year for an MRI … I could pay for an MRI. The issue with that is that I have three areas of my spine that need imaging, which would cost $3,000. I don’t have the $3,000 to pay, but even if I had it, I don’t think that’s ethical,” she said.

“(Private options) have actually made things worse and made it so someone like Ricki, who needs that MRI, is told, ‘Well, if you’ve got some money, we’ll get it for you, but otherwise, get ready to wait in pain,’ ” Meili concluded.