Province's health care funding increase 1/4 of federal government's

The health care funding plans by the Liberals would see annual average increases over the next four years of about 3.2%. For the Progressive Conservatives, the increases would be just slightly less (for the reason noted in yesterday's post).

This contrasts with promises from the federal government to increase their transfers for health care by 6% annually for the same time period. That's almost double what the province would put in (and much closer to the actual cost pressures facing health care).

However, when you consider the increasing federal transfers for health care will actually pay for almost half of the provincial funding increase, the money for health care actually raised by the province would only be about 1.6%. Compare that with 6% from the federal government coffers.

In other words, the federal government percentage increase is almost four times the increase that would come from money raised by the province.

Getting almost four times the increase from a very conservative federal government is an odd turn of events.

The federal Conservatives only promised the 6% increases for 2014-16 after the Liberals put pressure on them during the federal election campaign. In fact so dear to the hearts of Canadians is health care, that the Conservatives made the promise the very same day the Liberals raised the issue.

We need the same here.

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