EDMONTON — Alberta Wildrose Leader Brian Jean says he will use private clinics and send patients out of province and abroad, if needed, to improve key health care wait times.
Jean says a Wildrose government will institute wait time guarantees for five procedures, as the first step in fixing what he calls a broken system that over charges and under delivers.
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The program would cover knee and hip replacements, cataract surgery, radiation therapy and coronary artery bypass procedures.
He says if the current health system can’t meet the wait times, the government will rely on private clinics, with costs covered by government.
Patients who still can’t get timely care in the province will have the option to go to another province or the United States.
But Jean says no matter where a patient goes, the province won’t cover any costs beyond the equivalent cost of the procedure.
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