Groundbreaking report exposes the danger of for-profit health clinics in Canada
BC Health Coalition calls on policy makers to use findings and take action to build capacity in the public system
The BC Health Coalition is calling on politicians and policy makers to act on the findings of a groundbreaking report released today and protect British Columbians from an increasingly aggressive group of private investors who are promoting profit-driven health businesses that threaten universal and equal access to care.
The report, entitled "Eroding Public Medicare: Lessons and Consequences of For-Profit Health Care Across Canada", details research findings of 130 for-profit health care companies across Canada selling surgeries, MRIs and access to physician care.
The report presents evidence showing wait times are longest in areas where there is a high number of physicians working in a large number of for-profit, private clinics, as is the case in B.C.
"This report should serve as a warning. For-profit clinics are draining resources from the public system and jeopardizing the equality and fairness of medicare," says BCHC researcher Colleen Fuller, who notes that the growth of private for-profit surgical and diagnostic clinics across the country has dramatically increased in the last five years.
"Almost all the for-profit MRI/CT clinics have opened in the last ten years, doubling in the last five years. Almost all the for-profit surgical clinics and two-tier or boutique physician clinics have opened in the last five years," says Fuller.
"It is our hope that the findings of this report will impel policy makers to action, to build capacity in the public non-profit system and protect the great gains in equality, access, fairness and efficiency that are the legacy of our public health system," added Fuller.
Download the report at the BC Health Coalition website.
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