Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe rolled out his party’s seniors platform on Oct. 8 in North Battleford, promising to reduce the cost of some ambulance fees and increase home care staffing.
“We've heard concerns from many seniors and their families about the cost of ambulance services, especially the cost of transfers from one hospital to another in an ambulance,” Moe said.
He promised a re-elected Saskatchewan Party government would reduce those costs, saying, “We will completely eliminate the charges for inter-hospital transfers for seniors and we will further reduce the maximum costs of other ambulance calls for seniors by over 50 per cent. We will reduce the cap from $270, down to $135 per call. We want to reduce the financial burden for seniors who may be experiencing a health care emergency.”
Moe continued, “The second measure that we are making today relates to the Seniors Income Plan. When the Saskatchewan party was first elected in 2007, the Seniors Income Plan was only $90 a month. In fact, it had been stuck at $90 a month for the entire 16 years at the NDP were in office. This is the benefit that helps low income seniors. The NDP never increased it once in 16 years. Since 2007, the Saskatchewan Party government has tripled the seniors income from $90 to $270 per month. Now we think it's time to help low-income seniors in Saskatchewan by increasing it yet again. Over the next four years we will boost the seniors income plan benefit to $360 a month. It will be a 33 per cent increase for about 14,000 Saskatchewan seniors, and four times what it was when the Saskatchewan Party formed government in 2007.”
The third initiative Moe announced regarded long-term care facilities as well as those receiving homecare services.
“Our plan is to hire an additional 300 continuing care aides,” he said.
“They help seniors with their mobility, with their personal care, with their meals and with their medication. They do crucially essential work. And they do it with compassion, and they do it with commitment. And we all know they've been asked to do even more, over the course of the past number of months as they have protected residents, yet again from this global pandemic.”
Long-term care facilities would see 180 of the new continuing care aides. Moe said that’s the equivalent of adding one additional aid for every 50 long-term care residents.
The other 120 continuing care aides will provide homecare services across the province, he said. When fully implemented the cost of these three initiatives will be about $36 million a year, according to Moe.
“Together, these measures will make life more affordable for our Saskatchewan seniors, our family members, which is one small way for us to say thank you for all that they have done for our province, and to ensure that our seniors have the resources they need to live active, engaged lives with dignity and lives with purpose,” he said.
Moe thanked people across Saskatchewan for working to protect seniors from the spread of COVID-19, which is particularly dangerous to elderly people.
With Thanksgiving coming up, Moe urged people to avoid out-of-province travel. “I would ask you to continue being careful, especially around our elderly family members. Continue with your physical distancing and wearing a mask when that distancing is not available. Continue to wash your hands and cleaning those common touch areas. And I would say just one person should serve the food at Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. You're doing so well here in Saskatchewan. Let's not let our guard down right now.”
The NDP responded in an email saying, “Scott Moe and the Sask. Party are letting seniors down. In 2016, without warning or care, they began clawing back the Seniors Income Plan from low-income seniors and seniors living with a disability, taking support away from seniors who needed it the most.
“These cuts were made after the last election in the name of budget austerity – the exact same theme Scott Moe and the Sask. Party are running on this campaign, which is downright dangerous during a pandemic.”
The NDP said the Saskatchewan Party had “jacked up the costs of prescriptions for seniors,” cut programs that helped low-income seniors afford things like hearing aids and hiked fees for long term care.
