• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

B.C. Finance Minister Sounds Warning About Rising Health Costs

Posted on: Friday, 15 September 2006, 21:00 CDT

By DIRK MEISSNER

VICTORIA (CP) - Rising health-care spending could eventually eat up nearly three-quarters of British Columbia's budget, the province's finance minister said Friday.

Carole Taylor said health authorities across British Columbia are looking for more than $1.1 billion in extra funding over the next three years.

Taylor, releasing British Columbia's first-quarter economic forecast, said her ministry is about to appoint a special investigator to examine the financial pressures the health authorities say they are facing.

"This warrants special attention," she said. "We have offered and the minister of health is very happy that we will be working on the financial side of this."

Taylor pointed to a graph during her news conference that suggested 71 per cent of the government's budget could be devoted to rising health costs by 2017.

The graph indicates health spending will rise by eight per cent and accumulate 71.3 per cent of the budget, while education will grow by three per cent, rising to 27 per cent of the budget.

After health and education, the government will have nothing left in its budget for other ministries, including social programs, Taylor said.

She did not rule out raising taxes to cover rising health costs, but said tax increases kill economic growth.

Taylor said the government added $1.95 billion to health care over three years in her budget last February, and now, three months into the new fiscal year, health authorities are saying they need another $1.1 billion.

"You can see what I'm trying to impress upon everyone that this is an issue that we all have to get our heads around," Taylor said.

The government is preparing to launch what it calls a conversation about health care with British Columbians later this year. Premier Gordon Campbell said he hopes to create a public debate about the health care system British Columbians want, expect and can afford.

British Columbia currently spends about 42 per cent of its $33-billion budget on health costs.

Opposition Leader Carole James said Taylor's health cost warnings make it sound like she wants to start the government's coming health conversation on a dark note.

"I think the finance minister is trying to help set up the premier as he goes out to his health care dialogue," she said.

"Once again, before the dialogue has even started on health care, the premier is trying to make sure he gets the answer he wants."

Taylor said British Columbia's economic growth for 2006 is forecast at 3.6 per cent, compared with 3.3 per cent anticipated in the February budget.

There have been solid job gains and a strong housing market and retail sales but Taylor said the government will have to keep a watchful eye on resources, noting natural gas revenues are down by $750 million this year.

She said a weakening U.S. housing market and the risk of slower growth in the U.S. economy also pose risks to the B.C. economic outlook.

"We're on very firm ground with a strong economy but it will be why, when I present the budget in February, everybody doesn't get the money that they would like to get," Taylor said.

She said she feels more comfortable keeping a tighter rein on the surplus just in case the economic warning signs continue to worsen.

The government forecasts the surplus for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, at $1.2 billion, up from the $600 million expected at budget.

Source: Canadian Press

More News in this Category