St. John’s, NL (March 19, 2025) – Barry Petten, Progressive Conservative MHA for Conception Bay South and Shadow Minister for Health and Community Services, expressed his disappointment in the Liberal government for their decade of inaction on critical issues in the Medical and Dental Care Plans as found by the Auditor General (AG).

Petten pointed out that the Auditor General’s report demonstrates that many of the same issues flagged in 2014 remain unresolved. According to the AG, the Medical Care Plan (MCP) still lacks strong control processes, leaving the system vulnerable to problems such as double payments. The report specifically highlighted that double payments to Workplace NL happened far too often.

“The fact that the AG identified the same issues that were identified in 2014 is absolutely unacceptable,” said Petten. “This is taxpayer money we’re talking about, and it’s being wasted because of the Liberal’s neglect and lack of action. The Liberals have had more than enough time to fix these problems, but instead, they have ignored the problem.”

They key concerns raised in the report include: the outdated MCP system, with no replacement plans, a lack of internal controls to ensure accurate payments, internal audits taking too long, and very little success in recovering overpayments.

“The fact that the Liberals only collected 7% of the money owed and have left at least $2.2 million, which could be much higher, uncollected is a glaring example of their inability to manage public funds effectively,” added Petten. “This money could have been put toward improving healthcare services, but instead, it sits uncollected while patients continue to suffer.”

Petten concluded by urging the Liberal government to take immediate action to address the critical issues identified in the Auditor General’s report.

“It’s time for the Liberals to stop making excuses and start putting people first,” said Petten. “We need an updated MCP system, with the proper controls and audits, so that healthcare providers can truly focus on providing better healthcare for all of us.”