Before federal elections, Canadians are concerned about access to medical care. Some private clinics, which are growing in number, charge thousands a year for primary care and pocket rates, since many people fight with a very high cost of living.
An estimated 6.5 million Canadian adults Do not have a regular medical care provider as a family doctor or a practicing nurse.
Dr. Rita McCracken, a family doctor in Vancouver and Primary Care Researcher at the University of British Columbia, said that the change towards private for profit continues, while the principles of the Health Law of Canada hang in the balance of these federal elections. She was recruited by what she calls a boutique clinic, although she never joined.
The Canada Health Law prohibits the collection of an essential medical service such as primary care that is publicly available, because medical care must be based on need, not on income. Quebec is an exception due to a decision of the Supreme Court.
The option of the private clinic “takes me out of the public system where anyone has access if he is my patient, and takes me away and puts me behind a payment wall, essentially,” said McCracken.
McCracken said that the for -profit clinic caused concerns for her, since an average family doctor in her area takes care of about 1,200 patients, while the recruitment corporation said it would only take 400 patients.
“What this corporation is trying to do is that they are trying to say that we are offering additional services, such as massage services, but these extras have medicalized,” said McCracken. “I think they are walking a very fine line.”
Sticker clash in front of the sticker
Extras also include publicly insurance services such as executive physicists and medically unnecessary cardiac tests, McCracken said.
In Barrie, Ontario, Anisa Carrascal had a “excellent” family doctor in Toronto for 10 years, until the doctor moved to a new private clinic. Carrascal received an email from that clinic, notifying him that to continue with the doctor, he would have to pay $ 4,245 a year.
“That was a bit of stickers shock,” Carrascal said.
The rate was based on a sliding scale according to factors such as the patient’s age, he said.
Carrascal, who is also a nurse, called for medical care “a problem that cannot escape.”
The message of the 45 -year -old man to the Canadians this federal election? “Think of 20 years in the future and vote accordingly.”
On Wednesday, more than 1,000 people aligned in the snow in Walkerton, Ontario, to try to get a family doctor, but only the first 500 would succeed.
At times, like when Carrascal’s seven -year -old daughter was sick with respiratory infection, the mother said she returned to email. She considered paying, although she never did.
Unique Quebec clinics
In Quebecone in four people, about 2.1 million People did not have a family doctor in 2022-23.
Quebec doctors can choose move between The public system and the private system. That is not the case in most other provinces.
Dr. Martin Potter left the public health system of the province after 20 years of practice as a family doctor to start Clinique Santé Plus in 2022.
“It has been increasingly difficult in recent years in Quebec accessing its own family doctor, even if you have one,” Potter said. “Sometimes, instead of waiting for days or weeks or waiting for 10 hours in the emergency room, they come to see me.”
For urgent attention, the clinic in Vaudreuil, which., About 45 kilometers west of Montreal, charges $ 150 for a 15 -minute appointment. Potter also sees family practice patients, paying $ 300 for a regular physical examination.
For Potter, the advantage, he said, is that patients do not need to jump through hoops to see it and vice versa.
Medical care regardless of the ability to pay
According to Canada’s Health Law, Canadians should not pay for the medically necessary services in their pocket.
In March, the Federal Government reported that in 2022-23, Canadians bifurcrated more than $ 62 million From your pocket for medically necessary services that should have received at no cost through your taxes.
Last year, the Quebecers paid more, followed by those who live in British Columbia.
Although medical care is delivered provincially, each province and territory receive substantial amounts of the federal government through the Canada’s health transferthe biggest of its kind.
The Ontario government is paying a more profit clinic than pays its public hospitals to carry out identical and provincially covered surgeries, according to documents obtained by CBC News.
There is a mechanism for the federal government to recover part of the money from jurisdictions if patients have been charged for medically necessary services. To date, the application has been for diagnostic images provided in private such as magnetic resonance, cataract surgeries or abortion services.
In 2023The first The Minister of Health promised to reduce the pocket expenses that the Canadians paid for medically necessary services, such as virtual visits with a family doctor.
In January, the Federal Government announced changes that, if implemented, would expand provincial and territorial health coverage to include medically necessary services provided by practical, pharmaceutical and midwife nurses.
BC, McCracken said that a series of solutions to the lack of primary care suppliers in the province have not been bad for doctors, but have not made a big difference for communities and for patients.
McCracken suggested that they could be recovered for primary boutique care.
“I think what we should expect that our federal politicians do is maintain a standard of what is the minimum medical care that a Canadian can expect in each province,” McCracken said.
