Vancouver-based Council of Canadians organizer Harjap Grewal and public health care advocate Colleen Fuller lead a rally on the first day of a pivotal court case on the future of public health care in Canada.
The Council of Canadians Quill Plains (Wynyard) chapter is highlighting the implications of a lawsuit now underway in a Vancouver court that has major implications for the future of our public health care system.
In a letter to the editor published in the Wadena News on September 5, chapter activist Elaine Hughes writes, “For years, Dr. Brian Day, owner of Vancouver’s for-profit Cambie Surgery Clinic, has been openly ignoring Canada’s health care laws at the public expense. A 2012 audit conducted by the BC Government found that, in one month, Dr. Day’s clinic had illegally billed patients nearly $500,000, including $66,734 in over-lapping claims, where he billed both the patient and the province. Dubbed ‘Dr. Profit’ by the media, his response to the audit was to launch a constitutional challenge claiming that those laws place limitations on private for-profit medical services and are in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Remarkably, Dr. Day claims that British Columbia’s ban on the purchase of private insurance for medically necessary services that are already covered by the public system is a violation of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He contends that our public health care system is infringing on a person’s security, right to life and liberty when there is a wait time. Day argues that if you have the money, you should have the right to buy your way to the front of the line.
Hughes says, “Should the court support his claim, it would open the door to privatized health care with private insurance companies and market-based pricing for medical services, a two-tier model which burdens American residents with crippling medical bills and outrageously high insurance premiums. Studies show that private clinics increase wait times because they entice doctors, nurses and other health care providers to work outside of the public system, putting pressure on governments to privatize health care. As well, for-profit clinics are less safe and offer poorer quality of care, ‘cherry-picking’ patients with low-risk conditions while leaving the public system to care for patients with complicated and expensive health needs.”
And she concludes, “The outcome of Dr. Profit’s reckless court case will determine the future of medicare in BC and threatens one of Canada’s deepest held values, envied the world over: universal, accessible and publicly-funded health care which is delivered on the basis of a person’s need and not on their ability to pay. We must hope that the court will not open that door…”
Dr. Brian Day launched the lawsuit in July 2012, but now, after many delays, the hearings began this past Tuesday. In February 2013, we began blogging on this lawsuit. In September 2014, we participated in coordinated media conferences in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax to express concern when the BC government was seeking an out of court settlement with Day. We have even encouraged our donors to help pay for the legal representation needed by our allies and interveners in this case, the British Columbia Health Coalition and Canadian Doctors for Medicare.
On Tuesday (September 6) we helped mobilize a protest on the front steps of the BC Supreme Court for the first day of the hearings.
Those hearings are expected to last six months.
For more on this court challenge, please see this 6-minute Global News interview with Council of Canadians health care campaigner Michael Butler.
