Alberta’s bureaucratic shuffle bears little resemblance to necessary health-care reforms

From the Fraser Institute

Author:

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute

Sometime soon, the Smith government will begin a major shift in the administrative structure of the province’s health-care system, switching from a single overarching health authority (Alberta Health Services) to multiple authorities each tasked with overseeing one area of the health-care system. Unsurprisingly, the usual defenders of the status quo were quick to decry the reform as unnecessary or problematic. To other critics, this seems a lot like a distraction tactic from the old playbook where the deck chairs on the Titanic are shuffled to make it appear as if the government is finally doing something about the province’s failing health-care system while nothing will really change.

Then again, it’s also possible that the provincial government is building the structure for some very positive reforms that will meaningfully benefit Alberta’s patients in the future. Alberta’s health-care system is not known for being efficient, effective or timely—and reforms are badly needed.

Among the provinces, Alberta’s provincial health spending ranked second-highest (after adjusting for age and sex) in 2021, the latest year of available data, while Albertans endure health-care wait times that are longer than the national average. Nationally, Canada is a relatively high spender among universal health-care countries, yet ranks near the bottom for the availability of medical professionals, medical technologies and hospital resources. And Canadian patients suffer some of the longest delays for access to care in the developed world.

Put simply, Albertans spend more and get less than their counterparts in other developed countries when it comes to universal health care. The solution to this problem is to learn from countries such as Switzerland, Australia and Germany, which all deliver more timely universal care with comparable health spending to our own.

So what do these countries do differently? They all have private competitive providers delivering universally accessible services within the public system, and payment for such care is based on actual delivery of services, known as “activity-based” funding. Alberta’s new bureaucratic shuffle appears to bear little resemblance to these higher-performing approaches pursued elsewhere. And if the bureaucratic shuffle is the entire goal, then this reform will likely generate little to no improvement.

But again, perhaps the Smith government is setting the stage for meaningful reform. Before moving from a government-dominated health-care system (like we have in Alberta and every other province) to a higher-performing model with competitive patient-focused delivery, governments must first separate and clearly define the roles of the purchaser of health care and the providers of that care. The Alberta Health Services, which the Smith government will soon begin to dissect, directly provides, oversees and pays for health-care services (e.g. surgeries) in the province. This leads to a lack of transparency and the politicization of health-care decision-making.

A shift to multiple health authorities focused on the delivery of care, accountable to other authorities and the provincial government, has hints of the more transparent and contractual relationships between payers and providers that have reduced wait times and enhanced health system efficiency in a number of European countries. If that’s indeed the government’s goal, Albertans could soon benefit from an improved health-care system.

In other words, if this reform, to move from one large health authority to multiple authorities, is really about more clearly defining government’s role as the purchaser and oversight authority for universal health care, with authorities and providers being transparently accountable for delivering timely quality care to patients, then Albertans may well be on the road to shorter wait times and a higher-quality health-care system.

However, if this is the provincial government working from the same old playbook, with another administrative shuffle to distract Albertans from the real problems in the health-care system, then nothing will really change and patients will pay the price.

Author:

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute

Related Topics:#AlbertaHealthServices #FraserInstitute #NadeemEsmail

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Alberta introduces bill banning sex reassignment surgery on minors

Published on November 2, 2024

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith followed through on a promised bill banning so-called ‘top and bottom’ surgeries for minors.

Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith made good on her promise to protect kids from extreme transgender ideology after introducing a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors.

“It is so important that all youth can enter adulthood equipped to make adult decisions. In order to do that, we need to preserve their ability to make those decisions, and that’s what we’re doing,” Smith said in a press release.

“The changes we’re introducing are founded on compassion and science, both of which are vital for the development of youth throughout a time that can be difficult and confusing.”

Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 “reflects the government’s commitment to build a health care system that responds to the changing needs of Albertans,” the government says.

The bill will amend the Health Act to “prohibit regulated health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors.”

It will also ban the “use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence” to kids 15 and under “except for those who have already commenced treatment and would allow for minors aged 16 and 17 to choose to commence puberty blockers and hormone therapies for gender reassignment and affirmation purposes with parental, physician and psychologist approval.”

Alberta Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange, the bill’s sponsor, said the province’s legislative priorities include “implementing policy changes to continue our refocusing work, position our health care system to respond to pressures and public health emergencies, and to preserve choice for minors. These amendments reflect our dedication to ensuring our health care system meets the needs of every Albertan.”

Earlier this year, the United Conservative Party (UCP) provincial government under Smith announced she would introduce the strong pro-family legislation that strengthens parental rights, protecting kids from life-altering, so-called “top and bottom” surgeries as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

With Smith’s UCP holding a majority in the provincial legislature, the passage of Bill 26 is almost certain.

While Smith has done far more than predecessor Jason Kenney to satisfy social conservatives, she has been mostly soft on social issues such as abortion and has publicly expressed pro-LGBT views, telling Jordan Peterson that conservatives must embrace homosexual “couples” as “nuclear families.”

This weekend, thousands of UCP members will gather for the party’s annual general meeting, where Smith’s leadership will be voted on along with many other pro-freedom and family policy proposals from members. Smith is expected to pass her leadership review vote with a large majority.

Alberta

Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest

Published on November 1, 2024

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.

An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.

“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.

Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.

“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”

After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.

In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”

“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.

Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.