Alberta budget includes $525M for private surgeries

EDMONTON – Alberta health minister Nate Horner’s (pictured) Budget 2026, delivered last week, included $1.9 billion in new funding across the healthcare system, bringing the total health system spending to $34.4 billion. The budget included the following major items:

• Surgical capacity expansion: New targeted funding of $525 million to complete 50,000 additional surgeries over three years by leveraging chartered surgical facilities. Chartered surgical facilities (CSFs) in Alberta are private surgical centers that provide insured and uninsured surgical services, acting as a supplement to the public healthcare system. As of 2024, the province had contracts with 48 CSFs operated by 38 private…