When is a deal not a deal? When you make it with the government.
Many in Saskatchewan’s agricultural sector remember the problematic changes by the NDP to the Gross Revenue Insurance Plan (GRIP) in 1992. Now, the Saskatchewan Party has created a similar fiasco with chiropractors.
Last week’s provincial budget holds a precise example of what has been worrying me and many other Canadians. I’m not saying this is only a Saskatchewan problem; it’s just that Saskatchewan’s event is timely.
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I’ve discussed the latest report from the Canadian Index of Wellbeing before. A central finding was that Canada is facing “a huge democratic deficit, with trust in Canadian government and public institutions on a steep decline.”
The decline was pushed ahead by the government’s decision to limit funding for chiropractic care.
Every three years, Saskatchewan’s chiropractors negotiate a contract with Saskatchewan Health. The agreement was ratified by the chiropractors. Their president, Dr. Shane Taylor of Regina, says the agreement included a 2.5 percent increase in government payments per patient visit, to about $12.80 from $12.50. That’s for the first 16 visits. Taylor said 90 percent of approximately 125,000 people who see a chiropractor each year have 16 visits or less.
In the budget, the Wall government reneged on the deal, offering limited chiropractic assistance to people with low incomes. It’s a case of using a law to overrule a contract. It’s legal, as unhappy farmers learned in 1992 in relation to GRIP.
The decision has destroyed the credibility of people negotiating on behalf of the government. The budget decision screams “bad faith.”
It has jeopardized the health of people who are now getting chiropractic care through Saskatchewan Government Insurance or the Workers’ Compensation Board. Payments to chiropractors from those agencies were based on the government agreement with chiropractors. Can those agencies still pay chiropractors, and if so, how much?
This is a major setback to the direction of 21st century medicine and holistic care. The goal of functional medicine is not to treat injuries and illnesses, but to treat people.
Taylor says evidence shows chiropractors can get people back to work faster, at less cost and more effectively than can physicians. When the physician and chiropractor work together, the progress is even better.
What can chiropractors do? Will they be paid by government-related agencies? And on what other deals will Brad Wall’s government renege?
Rob Brown is an ethics student in Saskatoon.
