BC Conservative leader John Rustad has reaffirmed his desire to implement a healthcare plan that he said will put patients first.He also accused the BC NDP of spreading fear and misinformation on the subject."The NDP have trotted out the oldest trick in their tired book: lying about healthcare funding," Rustad said in a press release. "Under David Eby's Bureaucrats-First healthcare model, British Columbians are already on edge about our fraying healthcare system. It's gutter politics to spread fear about the health funding we all rely on — we deserve better."Rustad went on to lay out the Conservative alternative, which he explained would first and foremost seek to increase funding and remove "the burden of bureaucratic bloat." He pointed out that despite having half the population of Germany, Canada has ten times as many healthcare administrators.Also included in the platform were a desire to give British Columbians the option of accessing care under the same single-payer system at both public and non-governmental facilities, and a promise to ensure hospitals receive funding based on activity."Our Patients First healthcare plan will deliver better care, shorter wait times, and more resources for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who are working tirelessly to serve British Columbians," Rustad added. "We will increase current funding levels, making sure it goes to patient care — not to administrative costs that only slow things down."He argued that the NDP "don’t like talking about efficiency or patients-first reforms — because they’re the party of bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy.""We have so many brilliant and hard-working healthcare professionals in BC who want to put patients first," Rustad concluded. "Our plan is about giving them the tools and the resources they need to do just that. It’s time for common-sense reforms that free our healthcare system from unnecessary bureaucracy and put patients back at the center of care."
