New report: The concerning rise of corporate medicine

Public contracts with corporate clinics top $393 million over last six years, including surgical centres engaged in unlawful extra-billing

Private for-profit surgeries and medical imaging are big business in BC and taxpayers are funding them. Over the last six years, the BC government has subsidized for-profit providers through millions of dollars in contracts ($393 million in six years) to provide services within the public system while not holding them accountable for unlawful billing practices.

The BC Health Coalition and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have jointly published a report, authored by Andrew Longhurst, that looks into this concerning trend. 

The growth of the for-profit medical industry in BC raises concerns about the influence these for-profit interests have in our public health care system. While supporters of this outsourcing claim that for-profit delivery of services adds capacity in the short-term, the reality is that in the long-term our public health care system is further degraded through the drain of workforce and capital to the private sector. This leaves the public health care system (and the people who have to rely on it) in an even more precarious situation. 

Read the report HERE.