Minister slams Ottawa over health-benefits funding shortfall
John Main says GN expects it will have to pay $21 million into federal program
Health Minister John Main said the Government of Nunavut is expecting to subsidize the Non-Insured Health Benefits program by $21 million this fiscal year. The program is supposed to be federally funded and “that is $21 million that could be going towards other services in Nunavut,” Main said. (File photo)
The Government of Nunavut expects to pay $21 million this fiscal year for a health benefits program that should be funded by the federal government, says Health Minister John Main.
“That is $21 million that could be going towards other services in Nunavut,” he said Thursday during the final day of the legislative assembly’s fall sitting.
Main cited the federal Non-Insured Health Benefits program, which is designed to assist First Nations and Inuit by paying for their medical costs outside of what is covered by social programs or territorial health insurance.
He said the program is critical for Nunavut Inuit, as it helps pay for their costs not covered under the Nunavut Health Care Plan.
In the last fiscal year, 2022-23, Nunavut’s medical travel expenses for this program were $107.8 million and the GN subsidized $13 million of the program, Main said.
For the 2023-24 fiscal year, he said the Nunavut government forecast the program to cost $112.8 million and the GN is being asked to subsidize $21 million of it.
That means that this year the federal government will pay about $3 million less than the previous year, while the GN’s share goes up by about $8 million.
“We feel it’s unfair we are being asked to subsidize their program,” Main told Nunatsiaq News after speaking it the assembly.
He said what the GN is hearing from the federal government in negotiations is that the federal government does not have the resources to meet Nunavut’s funding needs.
Main added Indigenous Services Canada has put forward proposals for funding. “But they fall short of where we need to be,” he said.
Due to population growth as well as other factors in Nunavut, an increase in federal funding is needed, Main said.
He called for federal legislation that could act as a foundation for this program. Without it, he said, there is an uncertainty over who is accountable for what in the program.
“Our federal partners are trying to exploit that gap and they’re trying to offload the costs of the program onto us,” he said.
Although the program is federal, it has been administered by Nunavut since the territory’s creation, Main said. With the exception of two years, Nunavut has subsidized this program each year, he added.
“Maybe this federal program should go back to the federal government,” Main said. “They can administer it, because then they’ll have to fund it fully.”
He emphasized the Health Department has a good relationship with Indigenous Services Canada on other initiatives, such as Aqqusariaq, the Nunavut Recovery Centre as well as boarding homes, but not when it comes to negotiations for this program.
Indigenous Services Canada did not provide comment to Nunatsiaq News before the time of publication.
And the cuts to federal programs begin. The cuts are going to send Nunavut back years all across the board.
Health, Family Service, Education, Justice, Infrastructure are all going to take a hit.
An unfortunate necessity in the years ahead will be more fiscally conservative spending, in part that is the result of the current government’s years long orgy of reckless spending. We ultimately need governments that can control their impulses, directing necessary funding where it belongs, while refraining from self indulgent vanity spending.
https://financialpost.com/opinion/matthew-lau-vanity-is-driving-government-spending-in-this-country
The Government has spent
$8 million on a barn in Ottawa
$54 million arrive can app
$1 Billion Green slush fund that is “similar to the sponsorship scandal”
Millions spend on Liberal friend businesses thougg hcovid-19 funding
The Government these days are stealing from the poor, the middle class and giving to away to Liberal insiders.
This stuff should get cut first, not programs that directly affect the poor.
Absolutely, I agree… I’m also sure we could expand that list a few pages.
Nunatsiaq News:
How about reporting on the disaster that is the postal dis-service in Iqaluit? Long lineups, just to stand in line again. Little to no information. The customer dis-service phone line that just rings, and is never answered. Has anyone received mail in Iqaluit in the past two weeks?
what a co-dependant little place. restrict or at least tighten upon escorts. try and hire more local physicians. make iqaluit a center for health issues that do not need southern services, that is expand its resources, look critically at what ailments are being serviced in the south but dont need to be.
John is recycling George Hicks lines, who had been whining about this very issue like every single Health Minister since Division. Remember George threatening to “invoice” Ottawa? It’s like Health has amenesia.
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Instead of this never ending game of theatrics, the Department of Health can make a decision: we are not administering this federal program for Canada anymore. Yes, push indigenous health care back to Canada and see what happens.
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Imagine a company accepting a tender to run a federal program, and the company accepting that they need to pay for 25% of the program. Now that wouldn’t be good business, but it is what GN Health does every year.
And if you remember correctly, you’d remember that George Hickes actually got the feds to pony up an additional $590 per medical travel flight up to an additional $20 million on an ongoing basis, AND he got the feds to throw in an extra $58 million for that fiscal year to address NIHB’s shortfalls.
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I don’t know why George Hickes started to get some hate in public forums, he was probably the best Minister of Health Nunavut has ever had. Thanks for the baby boxes, too. On that one, GNWT actually followed GN for once.
George received a big slush fund of covid funding like every government did. He didn’t invoice a cent and here we are underfunded. He didn’t even threaten to pull GN administration of the program.
Two-tiered health system.
I’d be really interested to see some statistics on per capital medical travel trips and per capita medevacs broken down by each community in Nunavut. I think Kugaaruk is the medevac capital of the world, and those flights aren’t cheap.
I think Igloolik is the real medivac capital. It beats Kugaaruk hands down.
This is a total red herring. The GN has been running annual surpluses so let’s not get duped into thinking that the lack of fed funding is why health care is struggling.