SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 162

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 16, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 162 - Feb/16/23
Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP)
  • Feb/16/23 3:24:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this motion calls on the government to close loopholes in the Canada Health Act. One of the most egregious of these is that while the Canada Health Act prohibits extra billing, which means doctors are banned from charging patients more than the medicare rate for insured services, private clinics get around that by advertising and offering surgery to patients from a different province whom they then charge tens of thousands of dollars. This loophole needs to be closed. Does my hon. colleague think that her government should agree with the NDP that the Canada Health Act must be amended so that provinces can no longer permit the odious practice of allowing the charging of patients for covered insurance services simply by allowing their citizens to cross a provincial border to get that surgery?
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Context: House Hansard - 162 - Feb/16/23
Ms. Rachel Blaney
  • Feb/16/23 5:04:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am really disappointed that the member does not see the reality happening on the ground and the fact that the federal contribution to health care used to be substantively more. This is with every different government. It goes down and down. This is about saying that across this country we deserve health care for everyone. It means the federal government has to take that up. I will tell the member what is happening with loopholes. Private companies in this country are inviting people from one province to another to get help at a much higher rate. When we look at this administratively, in the U.S. over 30% of costs are administrative. When it comes to medicare, less than 2% of costs are administrative. This makes sense. It is the best for the economy. It is the best for the community. It is the best for health care in Canada. I hope the member will fight for that just as strongly as I am willing to.
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