Goertzen backs plan to help pregnant indigenous women

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This article was published 12/04/2017 (3130 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen welcomes a new federal plan to pay for companions to accompany pregnant indigenous women flying to Winnipeg to give birth — but doesn’t intend to foot the bill.

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott announced a new program to cover the costs of a companion when a pregnant indigenous woman needs to leave her community to give birth.

Manitoba is embroiled in a dispute over $37 million the province has paid for First Nations medical transportation that the federal government has refused to reimburse.

Goertzen said providing travel and accommodation costs so a companion can accompany a woman about to give birth would be helpful.

Philpott has “not talked to me personally,” Goertzen said. “My understanding is that it will not be paid for by the Manitoba health system.”

Maryse Durette, senior media relations supervisor with Health Canada, said Wednesday that Ottawa has not projected the likely costs for women in Manitoba flying to Winnipeg.

Based on prenatal travel costs, companion coverage could run about $22 million a year in Canada, she said.

“Health Canada’s non-insured health benefits program is a demand-driven program. Therefore, it is difficult to produce a precise cost estimate for this policy change,” she said.

Durette did not say which level of government will pay for the program.

Durette said that the $37 million Manitoba says Ottawa owes it for First Nations medical transportation is part of ongoing talks over the federal health accord, which Manitoba has yet to sign.

Every other province covers such costs, she said. “They’re supposed to cover every Manitoban, First Nation or not,” she said, attributing the $37 million to “a difference of opinion between the province and us.”

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca