The Green party believes in the single payer system and health care

Leaders debate: Sterk promises provincial funding for homeopathy
By Charlie Smith

The B.C. Greens have always promoted a holistic approach to health care. And in today's leaders debate, Green Leader Jane Sterk promised provincial funding for homeopathy, which is not currently covered under the B.C. Health Plan.

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“The Green party believes in the single payer system and health care should be accessible to everyone in their community," Sterk said. "We would move to community-based care so we have multidisciplinary teams of people that would help people."

That would mean having "the appropriate professional" to deal with patients.

"It might be a nurse practitioner, an RN, a homeopath, a naturopath physician, and this would all be funded within the public health-care system on a prevention model," Sterk said. "We would adequately fund our acute and hospital-care system, but transition most of the money into prevention and health promotion so we keep people healthy. And the costs will go down over time.”

She didn't elaborate in the debate on whether or not the health authorities would employ homeopaths or if they would work on a fee-for-service system, which is how most physicians are paid in B.C.