New Brunswick's Liberal government will ask the people of that province if they are interested in having more medical services delivered through private providers.
Faced with health costs that have increased an average of 7 per cent annually over the past seven years, Health Minister Mike Murphy gave what he calls a "provocative" speech in Saint John this week in which he said he will measure the appetite for increased access to privately delivered treatment.
"We need to find efficiencies on the clinical and non-clinical side," Mr. Murphy said yesterday in a telephone interview.
As in the rest of Canada, some medical services in New Brunswick are provided on a for-profit basis, including its prescription drug program.
"We outsource to a number of private clinics for mental-health matters and addiction matters, there is the [Workplace Health, Safety and] Compensation Commission, which is a parallel health organization, and we also have cosmetic plastic surgery, which is a non-insured service," Mr. Murphy said. "So I said, 'Look, how much private-sector delivery of health care do you want in New Brunswick and what are the options?' I threw it out there for New Brunswickers to debate."
Other politicians who have mused about increasing the amount of private health-care delivery within their jurisdictions have faced a backlash from Canadians who cherish their universally accessible, publicly funded system.
Mr. Murphy says he will do nothing to curb free universal health care. "I have indicated that, to me, it is not acceptable to have a system for the rich and system for the poor, or queue jumping," he said.
It is not clear how more private care can be provided if those rules remain in place, Mr. Murphy said. "So if New Brunswick can answer that in a positive fashion, then you would have more."
Federal Health Minister Tony Clement was asked yesterday what Mr. Murphy's discussion around private care means for the rest of the country. "I don't know," Mr. Clement replied. "He's obviously musing aloud and he's not come to me with any proposals so we will let him deal with what he is talking about."
He refused to say how far he would let New Brunswick go down the path toward private care. "This government has made it clear that we support the Canada Health Act, which includes universal accessibility, and you can't jump the queue by paying more," Mr. Clement said.
"So there is a place for the private system in our public-health system. There are lots of private providers within a publicly funded health-care system so that's usually the line that's drawn."
Sharon Sholzberg-Gray, president of the Canadian Healthcare Association, said her group does not preclude the notion of private care. "But, on the evidence, private delivery doesn't save money or enhance quality," Ms. Sholzberg-Gray said.
"A lot of the health system now, which Canadians find really essential, are home-care services, long-term care services, some chronic disease issues, expensive pharmaceuticals, which are not Canada Health Act services. So basically, the discussion in our country is, how much more can we bring in to the publicly funded system rather than subtract?"
