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Legal attack on Medicare set to go to trial January 2014 In January 2009, a group of for-profit clinics led by Dr. Brian Day launched a lawsuit against the B.C. provincial government. The case is set to go to trial in January 2014. The clinics are seeking to have the courts strike down our provincial health care legislation, the Medical Protection Act, to allow US-style private insurance companies access to the "health care market" in B.C. The plaintiffs have launched a direct attack on the single most important feature of the Medicare model, which is that heath care be provided according to a patient’s need, not her or his ability to pay. The clinics argue that Medicare rules are unconstitutional because they prohibit privatized care for those who can afford to pay for it. This poses a serious threat to Medicare for all of Canada. Dr. Brian Day has also attempted to stop the provincial government from auditing his clinics, but an audit by the Medicare Serives Commission released in 2012 showed that that both the Cambie Surgery Centre and the Specialist Referral Clinic routinely engaged in frequent illegal extra-billing. The BC Health Coalition, along with the Canadian Doctors for Medicare, and individual patients have succesfully applied for intervener status in the case. We are seeking to make sure the citizen of British Columbia have the strongest voice possible at the table. Read the legal documents filed by the private clinics and the provincial government here |









