Can doctors provide care to patients in the private sector without first having to opt out of the public plan?
Last year, the government of Alberta passed legislation to allow them to do just that, and began rolling out the initiative this June. (Quebec may soon do the same, with two party leaders in their provincial election proposing to introduce mixed practice to the province.)
What’s new about Alberta’s mixed practice approach is that it allows doctors to work additional hours in a private clinic, without having to cancel their enrollment in the public health insurance plan. It is due to this prohibition that Quebecers often see headlines about doctors periodically moving back and forth between the public healthcare system and the private sector.
In an interview for the Toronto Star in August, federal health minister Marjorie Michel said she was “very concerned” following Alberta’s move, stating that the practice may violate the spirit of the Canada Health Act.
But the minister is mistaken, and it’s important to understand why.Read for free
