PING!
Posted on 12/01/2006 6:49:09 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
VICTORIA - A showdown over the future of medicare is expected to unfold in Vancouver today as the B.C. government threatens to shut down a private clinic that may start charging patients for services that should be free under the health care system.
''We need to ensure universal access to health care is maintained in this province,'' B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said Thursday.
In what Abbott called ''an extraordinary move,'' the B.C. government pushed through a cabinet order Thursday that will empower government auditors to enter the premises of the Urgent Care Centre that has promised to open its doors today in Vancouver.
While the private clinic's operators have yet to charge anyone for emergency services, they have made it clear they plan to challenge the status quo of Canada's medicare system.
In advertisements, in which they call their facility a place ''for conditions requiring prompt attention,'' the clinic's operators seem to suggest they will seek a $199 evaluation fee from patients and charge $70 to set a broken arm in a cast and $50 for X-rays.
Abbott said that would likely violate the Canada Health Act and the provincial B.C. Medical Services Act, which make it illegal for any doctor within the medicare system to extra-bill for procedures that are supposed to be universally available and free under medicare.
The operators of the clinic could not be reached for comment.
But the B.C. government said it can't immediately shut down the clinic. It will be sending in an audit team from the independent Medical Service's Commission to investigate its billing practices.
Abbott said the investigation could take days, weeks or month, but if extra billing is found to be taking place, a court injunction would be sought to shut down the clinic.
The emergence of private clinics and queue jumping has become a major issue in Canada.
There are many private clinics operating in the country, but they have mostly found ways to avoid openly confronting Canada's medicare laws.
However, a Supreme Court of Canada decision last year which ruled that the Quebec government couldn't stop patients from purchasing private insurance for health-care procedures provided under medicare, given that the public system often fails to provide service in a timely manner has emboldened private clinic proponents, who believe the decision gives them legal support.
In British Columbia, the health care budget is ballooning and the provincial government is under fire for bed shortages and long waits in emergency rooms.
In recent months, the B.C. New Democratic Party has attacked the provincial Liberal government for not cracking down on doctors it says have allowed patients to pay for access to private clinics.
In some cases, patients have been able to use their access to the private clinics to get to the front of the line for diagnostic tests, saving months or even years of waiting.
''I think this is the tip of the iceberg,'' said the NDP's health critic Adrian Dix. ''The government's position on private health care has been 'don't ask, don't tell'. It's been a failure.''
Dix called for the government to audit all private health clinics, not only the Urgent Care Centre.
Vancouver Sun
This WILL be us if she is elected in 08.
Yep, illegals get good care here. Most university hospitals run Section 330 public health clinics which are federally funded to provide care to people who cannot afford it. The reimbursement rates are "reasonable costs," something that holds in no other part of health care. Also, if the hospitals report "unreimbursed care" then they can apply for more disproportionate share funds.
Bottom line: hospitals probably lose money on Medicaid and Medicare patients because government is constantly cutting reimbursement or they cut services (less rehab, quicker but sicker discharges) to make ends meet. As always, government promises a lot and then expects other people to pay for it and quality goes to hell. Hospitals do not necessarily lose money on the uninsured, many of whom just happen to be illegals.
The government health care is good types love this situation because they can pretend that the U.S. health care system is broken. About 1/3 of the growth in the uninsured appears to be due to illegals--45 percent of foreign born U.S. residents lack health insurance--not to mention the fact that Medicaid pays for about 1/3 of births in this country and that extensions of public "insurance" programs cause about 50 percent of those enrolling to drop their private insurance.
The question, as always, is "broken compared to what?" Canada? Sweden (where they admit that people die on waiting lists and they can't do anything about it), the U.K.?
Ask anyone that has been in the service about the quality of free government issue healthcare. It's nice for the little things, but anytime a serviceman needs major surgery, they generally hope that they can go to a civilian hospital.
Ping.
PING!
The "Who's got the best medical system" competition between Canada, Sweden, France, Britain, and Cuba etc. is fascinating.
Each government defends the lies it tells its citizens by repeating the mantra, "At least we're better than that horrible U.S."
That "horrible U.S.", of course, being where the world's best medicine is practiced.
The entire exercise is hilarious.
Well, not that hilarious if you're ill and on a waiting list, I suppose.
Thanks for the ping... great article.
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