Quebec budget: Total COVID-19 health-care expenses to top $12 billion

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QUEBEC — After a year dominated by a global crisis “like no other we have ever experienced,” Quebec’s finance minister stressed that the battle was far from done and massive expenditures in health care will continue. The lion’s share will go toward increased salaries and bonuses for health-care employees in COVID-19 hot zones, protective equipment, salaries for thousands more orderlies and $400 million for vaccinations.

“Our first priority is to conquer the pandemic in 2021,” Éric Girard said, noting that the government will spend nearly $9 billion by the end of next year combatting the virus, and foresees another $3 billion over five years to provide additional protection for Quebec’s rapidly growing population of seniors. “The public health crisis is not over. We are providing funding to protect Quebecers from the pandemic and help them overcome it,” Girard said.

At the same time, the budget will attempt to address deficiencies in the health-care system highlighted by the pandemic, primarily in its care for seniors but also in terms of a lack of family doctors and access to mental health care.

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“The past year has been marked by tragedies, such as those seen in CHSLDs,” Girard said. During the first wave, the percentage of COVID-19 fatalities that occurred in Quebec’s seniors’ centres was among the highest in the world. The government responded by hiring and training nearly 8,000 orderlies to date to provide aid, and will put $1.5 billion towards increased home-care services so seniors can stay at home longer.

In a province where an additional $1 billion in annual health-care spending is considered significant, the funds for combatting COVID-19 are relatively huge, and were often caused by its shortage of labour in health fields.

Quebec reported it spent $2.8 billion on personal protective equipment for health-care workers, teachers and transit workers, most of it on masks, gowns, visors and gloves. Another $2.8 billion was spent on additional pay for those working in COVID-19 hot zones, including lump sums of up to $3,000 a month for employees transferred to red zones. Training and paying 8,000 new orderlies during the pandemic cost $546 million. Paying their salaries until 2026 will cost another $1.3 billion.

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Girard said there is more funding in the budget set aside to try to entice more people to enter the nursing profession, which lost scores of employees who complained of burnout and enforced overtime. With COVID-19 related salary hikes set to expire on Aug. 31, Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel said contract negotiations are ongoing, including what increases nurses may be able to hold on to, and couldn’t be discussed in a public forum.

Some of the expenses were offset by a reduction in health services and surgeries offered during the pandemic, resulting in savings of $4.1 billion. The government said the pace of restarting delayed surgeries and medical procedures has quickened, and expects the backlog to be cleared within two years. But Liberal finance critic André Fortin said the absence of dedicated funds and clear guidelines was an insult to the 130,000 Quebecers awaiting procedures.

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“If you are at home and awaiting your surgery, you have no idea when that surgery will happen, and what the objectives for the government are,” he said.

For the senior sector, the government is spending $1.2 billion to convert part-time orderlies to full-time, and $534 million to hire a manager for each CHSLD. (During the pandemic it came out that several CHSLDs lacked a dedicated manager, impeding the institution’s ability to combat the virus.)

With Quebec’s population of those ages 65 and over expected to increase from 1.7 million today to 2.3 million in 2030, and an increased desire among many to grow older at home, the government is increasing funds for home support service like nursing or meals. It is also increasing the refundable tax credit for seniors from 35 per cent to 40 per cent. The changes could result in an extra $75 a year for a senior living at home, and up to $1,000 a year for a non-autonomous senior living alone. Seniors living in an apartment building may be eligible for an extra assistance of $162 a year under the new tax credit rules.

With 650,000 Quebecers on a waiting list for a family doctor, with an average wait of 18 months, the government is promising more access points to frontline care, primarily through online access to care at government clinics.

rbruemmer@postmedia.com