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Klein Tosses Bombshell into Harper's Lap With Challenge to Canada Health Act

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 21:00 CST

By DENNIS BUECKERT

OTTAWA (CP) - Only weeks into their mandate, the federal Conservatives face a major test of their election commitment to defend the Canada Health Act, which sets the rules for single-tier medicare.

Health Minister Tony Clement played a delicate balancing act as he answered questions Tuesday on an Alberta plan that would, on the face of it, allow queue-jumping by patients willing to pay for faster access.

Overall, the reforms proposed by Alberta appear to pose a much greater challenge to the health act - and therefore to the government - than those announced by Quebec.

Clement refused to pass overall judgment on Alberta's so-called Third Way proposals, acknowledging that the issue is politically sensitive.

But at times he seemed to defend the idea that people should be able to pay from their own pockets to get quicker care.

"I think right now that people pay out of their pocket to get care more quickly," he said. "That happens every day of the week. Any health minister that denies that, I think, is not looking at reality. People go outside of our borders or they seek care from opted-out physicians."

However, only a tiny percentage of Canadians go outside the country to get care and few doctors have opted out of medicare. Even in Quebec, which has the most opted-out physicians in the country, there are only about a hundred.

In most provinces, there simply aren't enough people willing to personally cover the costs for medical care to provide a viable market for opted-out physicians.

In Quebec, which recently announced a set of health reforms, physicians are required to choose either the private or the public sectors, but the Alberta plan would allow doctors to work both sides of the line.

Pressed on whether he has a problem with that, Clement said: "I don't think it's fair for me to answer that question before Albertans have a chance to have that dialogue."

"The principle is that we need a universally funded, accessible health care system and we need to make sure that all the reforms that we do are towards a better accessibility of our health care system. That's the prism through which I judge these things."

During the election campaign, the Conservatives said they were committed to a health system that respects the five principles of the Canada Health Act. One of those principles is that medically necessary care must be provided to all Canadians on the same terms and conditions.

Most health policy experts say this principle is not consistent with allowing paying patients to get faster access. Clement would not state his view on this question.

Source: Canadian Press

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