Dear Constituents,
I'm pleased to share the position of the Official Opposition on MSP Premiums: they are not fair and should be eliminated.
It doesn’t make sense that a person
making $42,000 a year pays the same amount as a person earning $400,000, or
even $4 million.
MSP premiums do not have any relation to the actual cost of
health care and increases to MSP premiums are rising faster than increases in
health spending and faster than inflation.
Since Christy Clark became premier,
she has increased MSP fees every single year – fees are up by 24 per cent in
the last 5 years alone.
Recently
Christy Clark and her government announced that MSP premiums would stay at the
current rate in 2017, cancelling their planned 4 per cent increase. But that
doesn’t apply to more than 500,000 B.C. families without children at home that
will see one of the largest ever medical services premium tax hikes on January
1st.
Her ‘freeze’ on MSP for some British Columbians has come as no surprise –
2017 is an election year and she wants you to believe that she’s on your side.
The real truth is that over half a million British Columbians will be paying
more leaving her government to rake in an extra $46 million a year.
Christy
Clark thinks senior couples living on fixed incomes, and young people who are
just starting their professional lives don’t deserve a break. She is not
putting British Columbians first – and that is certainly the case when it comes
to the unfair Medical Services Plan premiums.
MSP premiums are another cost to
B.C. families, especially those already struggling to make ends meet. The Official Opposition recognizes that the current system only benefits those at the top, and this
needs to change.
All British Columbians should be treated fairly and MSP premiums should be eliminated.
Lana
Lana Popham
MLA, Saanich South
Lana
Lana Popham
MLA, Saanich South
