Saskatchewan provincial election 2024 « JointHealth™

Responses are arranged according to the date we received them. The first response received in each party appears at the top of that section.

Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan individual candidate responses
Tonyy Ollenberger – Saskatoon Fairview

Date: October 17, 2024 at 5:44:16 PM PDT
Subject: Saskatchewan Election Survey
From: Saskatoon Fairview Candidate

Hi Cheryl,

I assume since Anita sent the survey on your behalf that I am to reply to you. Please forward this on should that not be the case.

On a personal note, I have been advocating politically for over 25 years to reform our health care system in Canada, specifically on the delivery end. On another note, my best friend has arthritis and lives with a lot of discomfort, so I don't take this issue lightly.

The survey questions seem to lean towards asking for more funding, so you may not want to hear that money isn't always the best answer, especially when over 40% of the Saskatchewan budget is spent in the health care portfolio. The system is well-funded and extremely poorly rationed. Think of a patient bleeding on an operating table and all the medical team is doing to help is pumping more blood into the patient to keep them alive, while doing nothing to address the cause of the bleeding. This, in essence, is health care in Canada. The patient, aka the system, is in horrible shape, yet all our politicians are willing to do is pump more money in hoping for the system to heal itself magically. Saskatchewan needs the type of leadership willing to transform the system to place patients at the centre, and not budgets. Enter the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan.

Health care spending under a Buffalo government would likely rise initially while catching up the horrendous backlogs that currently exist, and hopefully my answers to your questions will make our overall plan a little more clear while I address your questions directly.

A Buffalo government will allow funding to follow the patient to the facility of their choice for their health care needs, incentivizing providers to offer a more complete range of care options in a timely manner in order to attract patient funding to their facility. Buffalo intends to re-start the Saskatchewan Transportation Company to assist rural Saskatchewanians in getting to communities where they can receive the timely care they need.
The above answer will also address this question, and you may not know that Indigenous communities are already partnering with the Saskatchewan government to provide various health care services throughout Saskatchewan. First Nation communities will be encouraged to adapt their existing health centres into culturally relevant facilities and avail themselves to already-existing medical taxis, supplemented by a renewed Saskatchewan Transportation Company to bring patients to centres with facilities should none exist in their communities.
The short answer is no. The private sector is doing a much better job at providing prescription drug coverage than the government ever could. Currently, well over 80% of Saskatchewanians are covered by a drug plan through their employer or union, and the government offers coverage for low income people who don't have a plan. A Buffalo government will be a regulator of the market, not a direct participant.
Yes we will. A previous government contracted the private sector to help catch up the backlogs in joint replacement and did very well, also saving 26% in costs compared to the public system. A vast majority of patients don't care who owns the building where they are getting their care as long as they can get the care they need when they need it and only need to show a Saskatchewan Health card so the government can be billed for the service. The answer to question 1 also applies here.
As someone with Sioux ancestry, I find it disturbing that you'd suggest the colour of someone's skin affects their ability to access virtual care. Sasktel and other providers have been working hard to provide fibre optic services to all communities in Saskatchewan, giving all Saskatchewanians EQUAL opportunity to access virtual services. The Buffalo Party believes that all Saskatchewanians are equal and will be treated as such.

Hopefully I have answered the survey to your satisfaction, even if you may not agree with the responses.

Thank you for reaching out!

Tony