Private health options in Nova Scotia would strengthen public system: premier

HALIFAX -

Nova Scotia's government is considering private health-care options but remains committed to strengthening the public system, Premier Tim Houston said Wednesday.

Any private option would be integrated within the public system, Houston told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"We're committed to strengthening the public system for sure," Houston said. "I'm not interested in Nova Scotians using their credit card to pay for health care."

Nova Scotia's health system -- similar to the health systems across Canada -- is under significant stress due to labour shortages, which are leading to cutbacks in services and intermittent closures of emergency rooms. Houston promised during last summer's election campaign to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in his first year in office to address the problems.

The premier wasn't specific about private options but said that all of them will be considered. He noted that the province has been using a private clinic in the Halifax area -- Scotia Surgery Inc. -- to perform elective day surgeries since 2008. The clinic has been utilized by governments of all political stripes, including the NDP and Liberals, Houston said.

"There's no favouritism in who gets to go there, and people have went there and gotten surgeries and used their MSI card (provincial insurance) to pay for that," Houston said.

Nova Scotia also pays for dental and cataract surgeries at specialized private clinics.

"The main goal has to be getting people access to the care that they need," Houston said. "We'll mobilize every ounce of resource that we can muster. I'm not really interested or distracted by the fearmongering that takes place."

Houston met Monday with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the premiers of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to discuss challenges in the health system. The premiers offered few specifics but said Canada's leaders need to come together to create a plan to reduce the emergency wait times and surgery backlogs plaguing the system.

In a plan announced earlier this month, the Ontario government said it would increase the number of surgeries in pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by provincial insurance. Ford's government also wants to boost surgical capacity by increasing the number of procedures in "independent health facilities."

In Nova Scotia, the opposition Liberals and NDP are skeptical about the expansion of the private sector into health care.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill, who had a short stint as provincial health minister under former premier Iain Rankin, said he isn't impressed by Houston's commitment to protect the private system. Churchill said one of the biggest issues facing the health system is a shortage of labour.

"If you create a private health-care delivery system, undoubtedly I believe that is going to siphon more staff out of our public health-care system," he said. The resulting staff shortage in the public system, he added, would create even greater waits in emergency rooms and for surgeries.

"I think you're creating a very big risk," Churchill said.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said many private clinics currently in operation rely primarily on nurses -- who are in particular short supply.

"As nurses have more flexibility, potentially more money and probably less stress working in a private system," Chender said, "it stands to reason that they might do that and that directly impacts the provision of public health care."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2022.