Spending to jump three per cent in 2018, 2019 and 2020
The NDP government pushed its efforts to rein in the growth of health costs Thursday, unveiling a budget that calls for modest annual increases along with significant new investments in addictions services, home care and continuing care.
Total spending on health services is set to rise three per cent to a record $22.1 billion this coming year, followed by additional three per cent hikes in 2019 and 2020 — keeping health as the government’s most expensive responsibility.
The projected spending is slightly higher than the NDP originally promised, though well below the typical six per cent annual hikes seen during the final years of the Progressive Conservative dynasty, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said.
“With an aging population, with new drugs coming on, with increased health needs and people moving here, we know a three per cent increase is reasonable,” she said.
Still, critics charged that the government needs to show more restraint considering Alberta’s health spending is already the highest per capita in the country and represents a full 40 per cent of the entire provincial budget.
“You can’t do the same thing the same way and expect different results and so the time has come to look at alternatives,” Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel said.
“It’s simple to just continue to spend money. I think at some point people have to say, ‘Let’s see how we can spend it more effectively and efficiently.’”
Alberta Health Services is set to receive $15.2 billion this coming year to deliver health care around the province. This represents a 2.7 per cent hike, and includes $40 million more to address worsening surgery wait times and $23 million to expand ambulance services.
The health authority is expected to add more than 1,100 new full-time equivalent positions to its workforce this coming year — mostly for home, community and continuing care — bringing the total to more than 80,500 positions.
A major unknown of the budget is how much it will cost to pay Alberta’s 10,000-plus doctors.
The budget projects a small increase in compensation spending to $5.3 billion, but this could change since the province and the Alberta Medical Association have yet to finish negotiations on a new master agreement.
Also included in the budget is a $112 million, or 19.5 per cent, increase to home-care spending, and a $30-million hike to continuing care to operate new spaces scheduled to come online this year. There is also $7 million more to improve mental health services.
As for health infrastructure, the budget contained few surprises since the government is already committed to a number of largescale, multi-year projects including the Calgary cancer centre and a new southwest Edmonton hospital.
The government says Edmonton’s new superlab facility will cost $595 million, which is significantly more than a preliminary AHS estimate of $325 million.
The lab is expected to be open in 2022-23.