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June 12, 2017
Toronto - Unifor is calling on the federal and provincial governments to put a halt to the practice by clinics of charging user-fees for necessary health services, as found in a ground-breaking new report by the Ontario Health Coalition.
“Health care should never be a money-making venture,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “The growth in private clinics is undermining universal accessible health care. Governments should not be so naïve to believe that the two can co-exist, without destroying our cherished public health care system.”
The report, “Private Clinics and the Threat to Public Medicare in Canada,” includes the results of a survey of approximately 400 individual patients and 136 private hospital, diagnostic and boutique physician clinics across Canada. In this damning report, the health coalition found evidence that at least 88 clinics in six provinces have been charging patients extra user-fees.
“We expect our governments to uphold the law and defend our right to accessible medical care, where cost is not a barrier to treatment,” said Unifor Health Care Director Andy Savela.
Savela said governments must move quickly to enforce the Canada Health Act, which prohibits charging user-fees for care.
Unifor is a member organization of the Ontario Health Coalition, the Canadian Health Coalition and the other provincial health coalitions.
For more information, please contact, Shannon Devine, Unifor Communications Representative at @email or 416-302-1699
