blog » June 11, 2005/Big changes for medicare?

The most sacred of Canadian institutions is facing some problems. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that patients in Quebec are allowed to pay for services covered under medicare, essentially opening the door to private health care. (related CBC story) Although this ruling only affects Quebec, and Quebec may use their notwithstanding clause to sidestep the ruling, it does put into question the future of medicare in the rest of the country. I’m sure that King Ralph is excited about this ruling, and can’t wait to implement private medicare in Alberta. The federal NDP and Conservatives are urging the federal government to meet with the provinces.

The decision came about partly because a Quebec man waited a year for hip replacement surgery, and is a criticism of long waiting times faced by Canadians. Ottawa is already trying to bring about some reforms to decrease waiting times. Hopefully the politicians can come up with a system that works, and that will regain the trust of Canadians. Medicare didn’t used to be this bad.