Council of Canadians protest (VOCM News)
The Council of Canadians warns that a bill moving through the Alberta legislature to privatize healthcare threatens to create a system where access to care could depend on your credit card.
Alberta’s Bill 11 allows doctors to work in both the public system and a private-pay market simultaneously.
Physicians would charge patients directly for some publicly-insured services, raising concerns that it would create a two-tiered system and push those with the ability to pay to the front of the line.
Members gathered outside the office of federal cabinet minister Joanne Thompson yesterday, urging Ottawa to enforce the Canada Health Act.
Yvonne Earle was among them. She worries that with Alberta already on track for privatization, Newfoundland and Labrador could be next.
“We’re going to find that you no longer need a health card to access health care, you’re going to need your credit card and that is very upsetting.”