Enforcement of Medicare Laws Long Overdue

Nurses are welcoming the provincial government's recent announcement that legislation first enacted in 2003 will now be enforced to protect patients from being charged unlawful fees when accessing necessary health care.

"The provincial government is taking action that will improve our health-care system," says BC Nurses' Union Acting President Christine Sorensen, who notes that the enforcement of regulations prohibiting extra-billing should mean for-profit medical clinics will no longer be able to flout the law.

"Full enforcement of medicare laws, along with the implementation of the province's recently announced surgical and diagnostic imaging strategy, should go a long way to reducing wait times for BC patients."

The enforced regulations now authorize the Medical Services Commission to refund patients in cases of extra-billing. And any person who extra-bills may face fines of up to $20,000.

Sorensen says the more care that can be provided in the public system the better. "We know that for-profit clinics do not reduce wait times, and far from being a 'relief valve,' they are a drain on the public health-care system," she says. "The physicians, nurses and others who work at these facilities can't be in two places at once. The more they work in for-profit clinics, the longer the wait times in public facilities."

Sorensen says the federal government's $15.9-million fine is a reflection of Canadians? concern about doctors increasingly charging patients unlawful fees for services covered by public health-care plans.

Last year former federal health minister Jayne Philpott spoke out against unlawful fees charged through extra-billing, calling them "bad policy and bad medicine," and made it clear to her provincial counterparts that Ottawa would be taking action.

"Action was needed," says Sorensen. "Recent research shows that BC ranks among the worst offenders when it comes to violating medicare laws and is the only province that has been fined by Ottawa every year since 2001 for violations of the Canada Health Act."