The Legal Implications of Private Healthcare in Canada

"Our proudest achievement in the well being of Canadians has been in asserting that illness is burden enough in itself. Financial ruin must not compound it. That is why Medicare has been called a sacred trust and we must not allow that trust to be betrayed." -- Justice Emmet Hall

 INTRODUCTION

A Little Background History

Since 1962, Canada has had a government-funded, national healthcare system founded on the five basic principles of the Canada Health Act . The principles are to provide a healthcare system that is: universally available to permanent residents, comprehensive in the services it covers, accessible without income barriers, portable within and outside of the country, and publicly administered.

The Canadian Medicare system is a publicly financed health care system operated as a joint venture between the federal government and the provinces and territories (Wilson, 2002). The funding and guidelines for the healthcare system are provided by the Federal government. This centralization is meant to ensure the essential uniformity of the healthcare services provided by medical professionals throughout the country. The aim of the Canada Health Act is to ensure that all eligible residents of Canada have reasonable access to medically necessary insured services on a pre-paid basis without direct charges at the point of service (Health Canada, 2002)

Trouble on the Horizon for Canada's Healthcare system

During the recent years, however, the Canadian healthcare system has started to show significant signs of trouble. Statistical evidence of the decline of the healthcare system is mounting up fast. In 1997, there were over 187,000 Canadians waiting for a surgical procedure (Gratzer, 1999). According to Statistics Canada, 45 % of those patients described themselves as being "in pain" (Health Canada, 2005). While treatment may not necessarily alleviate the pain, the implication is clear - waiting prolongs physical suffering for many patients. Waiting periods, the consultation with a general practitioner and the start of any treatment vary between 17.1 weeks in Saskatchewan and 10.2 weeks in Ontario. Furthermore, when comparing the results of a survey that was done by the British Columbia Hospital Insurance Service in 1967, the median waiting time in British Columbia has increased from five weeks to nine weeks in 1995 (Gratzer, 1999).

The situation across the country is uniform, and the Quйbec and Ontario healthcare are suffering from the same troubles as the rest of Canada. In February 1999 alone, the Ontario government tried desperately to arrange medical treatment for cancer patients in the United States; emergency rooms were severely overcrowded for a second year in a row, and Citй de la Santй (the largest hospital in suburban Laval) issued a press release asking the sick to delay any visits to the doctor. Also, a strike was staged at Sacrй-Coeur to protest overcrowding at the hospital after it had received national attention when an elderly man died while waiting to be seen in an overcrowded emergency room (Gratzer, 1999).

This situation is not going unnoticed by the Canadian public. According to a poll conducted by Angus Reid in 1999, only 24% of Canadians consider their healthcare to be "excellent" or "very good". This is a sharp contrast to the results of the a similar poll conducted four years earlier that concluded that 52% of Canadians considered their healthcare "excellent" or "very good". There was an even poorer result when compared to the 1991 results that showed that 62% of Canadians were satisfied with their healthcare. The evident decline of the public opinion of the healthcare system is a clear indicator of the current state of the healthcare services being offered to the Canadian public.

To add to the current problems, the Canadian health system regulatory bodies are plagued by myopia and misinformation. There are severe discrepancies between official statistical data and independent research findings. The Frasier Institute has conducted a number of studies that revealed some of the extent of these discrepancies. For example, in Alberta, the ministry of health kept records on joint-replacement and cardiovascular surgeries. Their data suggested that 800 patients were waiting for joint surgery, whereas the Frasier institute survey reported only 638 patients. In Quebec, data from the Montreal Regional Health Board showed 377 patients waited for heart surgery in March 1997 and the Frasier Institute study estimated only 359 (Gratzer, 1999). This kind of negligence leads to misallocation of funds and overall inefficiency. After examining the aforementioned facts, it is quite easy to see that the present state of the Canadian Health Care system is in dire straits and in need of urgent reforms.

 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN TODAY'S HEALTHCARE

All the problems listed in the previous section that are plaguing the Canadian healthcare system have the following effects on the healthcare situation in Canada. It is precisely because of the issues outlined below that major action is required.

1. Waiting time

The fact that our healthcare system is in such disarray results in significant waiting times for patients in need of care. One of the major consequences of this is poorer health for the patients that are waiting for treatment that, if given in a timely fashion, could produce better results or reduce chances of a relapse. Another major factor of waiting is the constant fear that patients must live under, due to the fact that the problem they are experiencing could get worse or lead to complications. This psychological aspect of waiting reduces the quality of life that the patients lead during their waiting period. They often remain in a state of uncertainty and fear that exerts psychological pressure on them. Another aspect of this lies in the fact that patients in waiting for treatment are still suffering from their ailments. This could result in a significant reduction of physical activities they can perform and lead to loss of income. Although healthcare is free in Canada, many other things such as housing are not and patients that do not have private healthcare insurance or the financial means to support themselves without working, often end up at a great economical and financial loss. The most important factor of all is the risk of death of some patients that could result from a lack of medical care given in a timely fashion. Also, the waiting times are forcing many Canadians