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One side-effect of COVID-19 is lost income for many physicians, especially surgeons who perform elective procedures that are now postponed. The losses extend to doctors in many related specialties.
Some family doctors have also seen their incomes sharply drop as patients shun the whole health-care system.
As a result, the government is saving a great deal of money, some of which could be used as a one-time sweetener in a contract agreement.
But this cushion hardly matches the vast amounts spent by AHS on COVID-19 response.
Kenney said: “You’ll probably see in next February’s budget that we’ve added $1.5 to $2 billion, like 10 per cent, to what is already the largest health-care budget in our history, to support our COVID-19 response.”
He added: “We’ve got to have some way of managing costs in the future and we hope that we can find a way forward with the Alberta Medical Association on that.”
Earlier this year the government often acted like a bull in a china shop, cancelling the contract with doctors and attacking the AMA on social media.
But as the premier’s remarks suggest, the government now wants a mutual agreement as soon as possible.
There’s still plenty of anger among doctors. And it would be a big mistake to assume the UCP has suddenly gone soft.
But there is hope that in coming months the bitterest dispute of 2020 will finally come to an end.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
dbraid@postmedia.com
Twitter: @DonBraid
Facebook: Don Braid Politics
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