LEGISLATION TO PREVENT TWO-TIER HEALTH SYSTEM

Released on May 1, 1996

Premier Roy Romanow and Health Minister Eric Cline today announced the
introduction of the Health Facilities Licensing Act.

Romanow said the purpose of the Health Facilities Licensing Act is to
prevent the development of a two-tier health system in Saskatchewan.

"This government rejects the two-tier approach to health service
delivery that we see in the United States and that is beginning to
appear in other parts of Canada," Romanow said. "Across Saskatchewan
there is a deeply held belief that access to health services must be
based on need, not the ability to pay. This legislation ensures this
principle will be upheld."

Currently, all privately-owned health facilities in Saskatchewan which
provide medically necessary hospital or physician services operate
completely within the public system. No facility charges patients for
a service that is covered by Saskatchewan medicare.

Cline said this legislation gives the government the authority to
ensure that any future private facility coming to Saskatchewan must
operate under these same rules.

"In other provinces some private facilities offer publicly insured
services for which they not only bill the government, but also charge
the patient a fee," Cline said.

"This violates the principle of the single-payer health system this
province pioneered in 1962. It allows for one health system for those
who can pay and another for those who cannot, and we will not permit
this in Saskatchewan," Cline said.

The legislation will ensure all future private health facilities
offering publicly insured services will be:

required to obtain a licence from the government;

prohibited from charging a facility fee;

required to follow uniform standards;

subject to inspection; and

subject to fines in case of contravention of the Act.

"Like health renewal, the Health Facilities Licensing Act reflects this
government's ongoing commitment to strengthen medicare for ourselves
and for generations to come," Cline said.

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For more information, contact:

Mark Seland
Communications and Public Information
Saskatchewan Health
Regina
Phone: (306) 787-3825