4-Year Federal Liberal Plan Invests in Family Doctors, Mental Health and Universal Pharmacare
Since 2015 I’ve been speaking with members of our community on a daily basis - Without a doubt, the subject I hear about most frequently is health care.
I hear from too many people who don’t have a family doctor. I hear about people facing serious challenges to their mental health who do not have their needs met. I hear about the difficulty families experience when their aging parents can no longer stay at home because of their failing health.
I hear too often about the pain so many people experience when their loved ones don’t have enough support as they approach the end of their lives. I hear about the expense too many of our friends and neighbours face when they have to pay for medication they cannot afford because they don’t have adequate coverage for their prescriptions.
Our system is bursting at the seams, and given our aging demographic in Nova Scotia, it won’t get better without significant investments to bolster the quality of care here at home.
Last year, the federal government made the single largest transfer of health care funding to Nova Scotia in the history of our province - OVER 1 BILLION DOLLARS! In addition, we have agreed to transfer an additional $288 Million to our province alone for two key areas: mental health and in-home care for seniors. But we know, we need to do more to help the Province meet the needs of our community members.
Yesterday, we released our plan to invest an additional $6 Billion to strengthen our public health care system. We will use this investment to move forward with a plan that will:
Expand access to family doctors and primary care providers
Set standards for access to mental health services
Improve access to home care and palliative care
Implement a national and universal pharmacare system.
These steps are major developments that reflect the challenges people have raised with me over the past four years. There will still be challenges for our province’s health care system, but this significant investment will dramatically strengthen our public health care system here at home and across Canada.
By investing in family doctors, mental health, in-home and palliative care, and by establishing a national pharmacare system, we can help address the most important concern of the people in our communities and better meet their health care needs. Thank you for the many conversations we have shared over the past few years. I am proud to see the feedback I have taken to Ottawa reflected in this plan to strengthen our public health care system.