The BC Nurses' Union strongly supports Canada's publicly-funded, publicly administered and publicly-delivered medicare system. Medicare is the fairest, most efficient way of organizing health care services, with access based on patients' medical need not on income. BCNU strongly opposes private, for-profit health care.

Join the Friends of Medicare at the BC Health Coalition.

"Public Solutions, It's What You Prescribed" - BC Health Coalition newspaper ad.

Nurses submission to Conversation on Health
Health care is too fundamental to the well-being of our community to be treated as just another commodity to be bought and sold in the private marketplace. More...

Unions advertise against hospital funding scheme
BCNU and five other health care unions published a newspaper ad during the Canadian Medical Association annual meeting urging doctors to study the evidence about the hospital funding scheme promoted by new CMA president Dr. Brian Day. More...

Say NO to CMA’s call for private delivery of health care
The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions wants you to send a letter to the Prime MInister and to Say no to the CMA’s call for private delivery of health care. More...

Learn more about the fight to save and enhance medicare and oppose private health care:

• Conversation on Health: British Columbians want better public health care, while the government plans more for-profit, private schemes
  
  
• Friends of Medicare Campaign to promote positive, public solutions to province's health care challenges
  
  
• Why Wait: Public solutions to cure surgical wait lists, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and BC Health Coalition, May 2007
  
  
• Positive Public: 10 steps to stronger health care
  
  
• For-profit emergency care: Health Coalition demands immediate audit of False Creek Surgical Centre
  
  
• Illegal billing: Nurses launch new court action against provincial government
  
  
• Nurses fear private "ER" will make hospital conditions worse
  
  
• BCNU legal action against illegal private clinic fees (PDF format:440 kb)
  from January 2006 Update
  
  
• Privateers scheme against Medicare (PDF format:76 kb)
  from January 2006 Update
  
  
• European comparisons faulty (PDF format:101 kb)
  from January 2006 Update
  
  
• Underutilization of ORs, September 2004: BCNU report reveals massive underutilization of public operating rooms. Instead of contracting out surgeries to for-profit, private clinics, the provincial government should order its health authorities to use the thousands of hours of operating room capacity in public hospitals that are currently unused (PDF format:129 kb)
  
  
• Join the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions' call for action on healthcare issues
  
  
• Patient's Bill of Rights In our 2004 Patient's Bill of Rights, BC nurses propose specific and far-reaching improvements in the services and quality of care available to patients under our publicly-funded health care system. Read the Patient's Bill of Rights (PDF format:61 kb)
  
  
• Privatization Update Special edition 2002 (PDF format:1369 kb)
  
  
• BCNU's submission to the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (Romanow commission) 2002
  
  
• Romanow commission final report 2002 (PDF format:2391 kb)