Surging costs in health care have forced the Manitoba government to once again find money for unbudgeted expenditures.

The province approved a $200 million special warrant to handle health-care costs not accounted for in the last budget but “required for the public good,” according to an order in council dated last week.

Finance Minister Adrien Sala says the extra spending reflects the NDP’s efforts to shore up the health-care system.

“Health care is an estimated $9-billion [annual] budget, around there. This [special warrant] represents in this fiscal year, I think, our success in staffing up and getting to 3,500 net new health-care workers” since entering office in late 2023, he said.

Specifically, $150 million of that special warrant will cover physicians’ fee-for-service, the model in which doctors and hospitals are paid by the province for every office visit, test or operation that’s conducted.

Rising prices, volumes

Recent fee-for-service pressures include rising prices and volumes in general practice, radiology, internal medicine, pediatrics and surgery, as well as medical claims from Ukrainian refugees.

An extra $20 million will cover the province’s costs related to the national pharmacare and rare disease drug programs, and $30 million is tied to the completion of large capital projects. 

The additional $200 million in emergency funds comes on top of the $1.04 billion sought last December, which was largely driven by added funding for Manitoba Hydro’s operations and other health costs. The money is drawn from the province’s consolidated fund.

Manitoba needs additional funds as it grapples with a projected deficit this fiscal year of $1.6 billion, more than double the original projection.

Much of the extra red ink is attributed to the drought conditions that led to wildfires, and low water levels sinking Manitoba Hydro’s revenues.

Cost pressures in the health department have driven other special warrant asks.

In addition to the $1.04 billion approved in late 2025, the province also sought $405 million in February, mainly to cover health care.

In 2024, the province needed an extra $710 million, which Sala attributed to the previous Progressive Conservative government failing to budget for the salary increases that had been negotiated for health-care workers.

And in 2023, under the Tories, a special warrant of $850 million was approved.