Healthcare

Polls suggest health care is among the top issues on voters' minds.

Health-care costs for individuals and governments are rising and most experts say the system is ill-equipped to handle an aging population, so any platform would appear incomplete without a mention of how parties would deal with the health care issue.

This is especially true given that the current health-care accord between federal and provincial governments expires in 2014, and negotiations on new arrangements are to begin this fall.

Here’s what the parties have said so far:

Tories:

Maintain federal transfers to the provinces when the current deal expires in 2014

At least two years of six-per-cent increases if re-elected

Forgive a portion of student loans for medical professionals working in rural or remote communities

Adult physical fitness tax credit of up to $75

Increase to child fitness tax credit from $75 to $150

Liberals:

Maintain the six-per-cent escalator after 2014 if elected.

$190-million increase for employment insurance benefits for family caregivers

$545 million for a family care tax benefit

NDP

Negotiate a 10-year accord with the provinces on health care

Immediately pump $165 million into health care to boost the number of doctors and nurses practicing medicine in Canada

Forgive student loans for health-care professionals who agree to practice family medicine for at least 10 years

Streamline the accreditation process for foreign-trained doctors

Green

Transfer more money to provinces for more hospital beds

Speed up certification of foreign-trained health care professionals

Forgive a portion of student loans for medical professionals working in rural communities

$300 million a year over three years to set up a universal pharmacare program

Encourage the growth of a successful generic drug market, and make new drug patent protection times shorter.

Bloc

$250-million over 5 years for a caregiver tax credit