Saskatchewan and federal government reach deal on health care

Saskatchewan and the federal government have reached a health-care deal, allowing the province to get new federal money for home care and mental health, the federal government has announced.

The province has also reached a separate agreement in its dispute with the federal government over private MRIs, a Saskatchewan government source told CBC News. The dispute will be set aside for one year, giving Saskatchewan time to prove that private MRIs don’t hurt the public health-care system

The province didn’t sign onto the health care accord after federal-provincial negotiations last December. But after intense talks, Saskatchewan agreed to sign onto the deal Tuesday.

The agreement comes one day after the federal government announced deals with Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador completed deals in December.

That still leaves the five most-populous provinces for the federal government to contend with: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.

Under the deal Saskatchewan will receive $190.3 million for home care and $158.5 million for mental health services over the next 10 years.

The province has been allowing residents to pay for an MRI test. In return, clinics must offer a scan, free of charge, to someone on the public waiting list.

Jane Philpott, the federal health minister, wrote to her counterpart in Saskatchewan in November to explain her objection to Saskatchewan’s arrangement. Philpott noted that under the Canada Health Act, the federal government was entitled to withhold funds from provinces that charged for medically necessary services.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/saskatchewan-health-care-mris-1.3939611?cmp=rss