Health Coalition joins doctors and advocates calling on the federal government to intervene in Alberta’s for-profit health care scheme
The Canadian Health Coalition is calling on federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel to scrutinize reports of draft legislation by the Government of Alberta and prevent the implementation of what appears to be a secret plan for two-tier health care in Alberta.
Doctors and advocates are expressing grave concerns about draft legislation obtained by The Globe and Mail that will allow Alberta physicians to work in the publicly-funded system, as well charge private fees paid by patients and insurance companies for medically necessary procedures.
The Canadian Medical Association and Canadian Doctors for Medicare point out that the process, known as “dual practice,” will foment a two-tier health system providing preferential access to those with the fiscal means to jump the queue unfairly. Additionally, withdrawing physicians from the public system will create longer wait times for everyone who cannot afford private insurance.
Such a two-tier system was rejected by the British Columbia Supreme Court in 2020, when the Honourable Mr. Justice Steeves ruled against Cambie Surgeries Corporation, finding, “the introduction of duplicative private healthcare would increase demand for public care, reduce the capacity of the public system to offer medical care, increase the public system’s costs, create perverse incentives for physicians, increase the risk of ethical lapses related to conflicts between the private and public practices of physicians, undermine political support for the public system, and exacerbate inequity in access to medically necessary care (paras. 2274-2670).”
The Canadian Health Coalition and the Alberta-based Friends of Medicare are calling on federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel to review the proposed changes to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act in regard to their compliance with the Canada Health Act.
The Canadian Health Coalition represents front line health care workers and researchers with a mandate is to protect and advance public universal health care for all Canadians.
