B.C. election: Could a health-care deal stabilize a minority government?
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With the final results of the B.C. election still pending, speculation is rampant about what concessions the Greens might ask for to prop up a potential NDP minority – and it could be a common philosophy about health care that ultimately helps forge an alliance.
With the final results of the B.C. election still pending, speculation is rampant about what concessions the Greens might ask for to prop up a potential NDP minority – and it could be a common philosophy about health care that ultimately helps forge an alliance.
Both parties touted the importance of primary care on the campaign trail, and the idea of team-based medicine could be a win-win issue for them to focus on going forward.
B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau told reporters Wednesday that it was too early to begin negotiating without the vote count completed, but that her platform would be a starting point for talks. She has advocated for what she’s dubbed the “Dogwood Model” of primary care, a team-based care model already in place in pockets of British Columbia and Ontario.
The New Democrats are already philosophically aligned.
Leader David Eby insisted he’s more interested in connecting British Columbians with a family doctor rather than making it easier for physicians to provide episodic care for more patients at walk-in clinics, and often reiterated the NDP’s success in recruiting physicians with a new payment model. His health minister has also touted the benefits of primary care, and his support for team-based care during his tenure.
Doubling down on the group practices could be beneficial for both leaders: Furstenau could log a policy promise delivered, while Eby would be able to connect more patients with a primary care provider and count it as a win.
In the last several years, a number of family doctors have suggested “patient medical homes,” where physicians work alongside nurses, dieticians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and mental health professionals, for example, to provide whatever medical care the patient needs on a given day.
