Petition demands stop to Sask. cuts to chiropractic care coverage

The Saskatchewan Government'sdecision to stop covering the cost of chiropractic care for low income people will leave patients in pain and end up costing the health care system more in the long run, say patients and chiropractors.

I feellike the government is singling out poor people.- KaidaDragon

Kaida Dragon recalled her reaction on hearing the news.

"I cried," she said.

"What am I going to do? If I can't have my chiro, I am going to be in a lot more pain."

That's why Dragon started apetition demanding the cut be reversed, not only for her benefit, but to help all the people she knows who rely on chiropractic treatments.

"I feel like the government is singling out poor people," she told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

One of those people is Saskatoon's Barbara Angst.

"It's what has kept me mobile all these years," she said.

"I probably would have been in a wheelchair by now if it hadn't been for chiropractors because regularly my hips go out of place and I used to seize up to the point where I would be like a statue."

When the cut takes effect on July 1, she can see a future of scrimping and saving to find money to pay for treatment, all the while having to find ways to deal with the pain.

"Shame on them," she said, referring to the Saskatchewan Party. "Where did all the money go?'

Cut could cost taxpayers more: chiropractors

It's not just the patients who are fighting back against the funding cut. The Chiropractors' Association of Saskatchewan has also written a letter to the health minister asking government to reconsider.

Association presidentKevin Henbid said that on the surface, the cut will save the province $1.2 million a year, but he said it may actually end up costing taxpayers more aspeople in need of chiropractic care end up going to doctors in search of pain killing medication.

"Going to an emergency room or to a physician is going to cost more money in the long run," he said.

Henbid said he's had no response from the provincial government.