Health Care Renewal in British Columbia

Existing 2002/03 Service Plans for the Ministries of Health Services and Health Planning have been tabled. These two service plans are based on the existing health budget without reference to increased federal funding that the province will receive under the First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal announced on February 5, 2003. British Columbia expects to receive new federal funding of $1.3  billion over the next three years as indicated in the table below, and is committing that every dollar of new federal funding will go toward health care — toward building a more sustainable, affordable and effective health system. Once government has assessed how to use the new funding, a revised service plan and supplementary estimates for the Ministries of Health Services and Health Planning will be presented to the Legislature.

British Columbia is doing its share to improve patient care and control health care costs

British Columbia's health care costs have grown significantly faster than the rate of the economy over the past decade, and now account for 41 per cent of provincial government spending. British Columbia has added $1.1 billion to health care spending, a 12 per cent increase, in the past year alone. Clearly, these unsustainable increases are not the answer to protecting and improving health care over the long term. That’s why British Columbia has begun an ambitious and wide-ranging health reform strategy, which includes:

• Reducing the number of health authorities from 52 to 6, and establishing new performance agreements with them to ensure accountability for patient outcomes while allowing for flexibility in service delivery;
• Creating a network of health services to provide British Columbians access to a range of acute care services, including emergency services, within a standard time frame;
• Better serving the needs of people who are seriously ill, including those with chronic or terminal illnesses, so they can live independently, with dignity and with the highest quality of life possible;
• Providing incentives to increase access to full service, primary health care, particularly in rural areas;
• Putting a greater focus on health promotion and illness prevention, so British Columbians have access to the tools and information they need to become partners in their own health and well-being; and
• Working with other provinces to control drug costs through measures such as a common drug review process.

Federal funding share declining

By contrast, federal support to health care and other social programs has long been declining, and the provinces have been forced to assume a much higher percentage of total health spending. Since medicare was implemented, the federal share of over-all health spending has decreased from 50 per cent to just 14 per cent.

These federal shortfalls have become acute in the past decade. Since 1994, the provinces' annual health and social spending has increased by $32.5 billion. In that same time, the Canada Health and Social Transfer to provinces has increased by less than $0.5 billion.

British Columbia’s position on new federal funding for health

The chart shows that the small increases to Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) in the late-1990s did not go nearly far enough in restoring federal funding to health care. The province is concerned that even these small gains will be lost without new and sustained federal action. That is why the province has been urging the federal government to make a significant commitment to health care and bring the CHST back up to the 1994/95 level of 18 per cent of provincial health care costs.

As the provincial budget goes to print, the impact of the 2003 First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal has yet to be fully determined. The new federal funding announced in the Accord is expected to support innovations and sustainability.

Without Federal transfer increases, a fairer Federal
share of health care costs cannot be achieved

The $1.3 billion British Columbia expects to receive will be used:

• To sustain existing plans to build a better health system;
• To continue the reforms in the areas of primary care, home care and catastrophic drug coverage; and
• To ensure appropriate levels of diagnostic and medical equipment, training and services.

Over the coming weeks, the Health ministries will be updating their service plans to reflect the direction and additional resources made available through the Accord.