Manitoba spent $36.9M in three years sending patients out of province
Posted January 10, 2024 4:05 pm.
Last Updated January 10, 2024 5:38 pm.
The previous PC government spent millions sending patients out of province for treatment and some experts say the money would have been better spent investing in Manitoba’s healthcare system.
Information from Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-term Care made available through FIPPA legislation found that between 2020 and November of 2023, Manitoba spent $36.9 million to send 776 patients out-of-province for either surgical or diagnostic procedures.
“The vast majority of those dollars should have been spent here in Manitoba to increase capacity,” said Thomas Linner, the provincial director with the Manitoba Health Coalition.
“It was not a system that was actually designed to be a failsafe, but rather to expand private healthcare.”
While out-of-province treatment is sometimes necessary, it should be seen more as a “safety valve” for the system, as opposed to common practice, said Linner. He feels it was being used to push privatized medicine in Manitoba, as opposed to getting patients help.
“As a system, we need to make sure our safety valves are exactly that: safety valves, while we put our main concentration on the meat and potatoes, of making those services available here in Manitoba,” said Linner.
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Linner says whenever the government sends a patient out of province for care, it’s important the process is closely scrutinized, and he hopes the new NDP government takes a more open approach.
A sentiment echoed by prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, Gage Haubrich, who says the NDP has been talking a lot about improving healthcare in Manitoba, and says part of that is ensuring the province is getting the best deal on the out-of-province treatments.
“One of the most important things when it comes to programs like this is transparency,” said Haubrich.
“They need to provide what they’re paying for those surgeries. If it could have been done cheaper at home, and then if that’s the case — then why isn’t it being done at home, that’s the most important question the province has to answer.”
In a statement, PC MLA Kathleen Cook said in part that sending people out-of-province for care was a short-term solution to address the backlog while the system – like others across the country – dealt with the strain of the pandemic pressures and said: “If you ask any of those patients if that was money well spent, it was.”
However, Healthcare Minister and Deputy Premier Uzoma Asagwara, says while they understand steps needed to be taken to address pandemic pressures, the spending speaks to a lack of investment in the system by the previous government and says the new NDP government has no intention to continue spending millions out-of-province when so much work is needed here at home.
“Under the previous government they didn’t invest any money in building capacity here in our own province, and they tried to convince Manitobans that the standard of care means going to the United States for surgeries or for diagnostics, that’s not acceptable,” said Asagwara.
“So, we are taking a different approach. We are investing in strengthening capacity right here in Manitoba and prioritizing Manitobans getting healthcare right here in their own communities.”
