Re-Imagining Health Care

It is time we bring back our health care system to human scale. We can do that by bringing decision-making about the delivery of public services closer to the communities that use them, and by reinvesting in those services to meet the needs and expectations of the public.

A Green government would:

• Bring the management of the Extra-Mural Program and Ambulance NB back into the public health care system.
• Establish community health centres throughout the province. These centres would offer the services of a variety of professionals, including family doctors, mental healthcare specialists, nurse practitioners, dieticians, respiratory technicians, and midwives.
• Increase services in mental health and addictions, including 24-hour emergency helplines.
• Decentralize the management of hospitals and clinics by allowing local hospital boards to decide the services to be offered based on the needs and expectations of the people they serve. This model would empower communities and prevent the partial closure of emergency rooms, such as was attempted by the Higgs government earlier this year.
• Ensure that LGBTQ+ and reproductive health services including abortions, are covered under Medicare, and can be delivered at community clinics such as Clinic 554.
• Maintain the emergency services and acute care beds in rural hospitals. 
• Support the creation of a national pharmacare program, including the coverage of diabetic medical supplies, vision care, dental care and equipment such as hearing aids. 
• Eliminate the annual premiums of the New Brunswick Prescription Drug Program both for individuals and for families earning less than $25,000 and $40,000 respectively.
• Continue to exert pressure on the federal government for an adjustment to health transfers to better reflect the needs of the oldest population of any province in the country.