WE WON! Public Healthcare on Trial
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Dear Paov,
We’re still pinching ourselves, but it’s true. Yesterday, BC Supreme Court Justice Steeves dealt a strong blow to the efforts of Dr. Brian Day to undermine our publicly-funded health care system.
They took public health care to court. We stood up to defend it. And we won.
It is a historic victory against an attack that could have ushered in US-style profit-driven health care. Time and time again, the evidence has clearly shown that public solutions are the most effective way to decrease wait times and ensure quality patient care. The courts have made it clear that this case was never about wait times - it was about profit. To read our press release, click here.
The decade-long legal attack launched by one of the largest for-profit surgical centres in Canada sought to invalidate key sections of the BC Medicare Protection Act (MPA). The sections of the MPA that the plaintiffs sought to strike down are in place to preserve a public health care system in which access to necessary medical care... is based on need and not an individual's ability to pay. This case has always been about increasing profits for doctors and investor-owned health care facilities.
The current public health emergency caused by COVID-19 has underscored just how important our public health care system is. This decision protects our ability to endure this crisis and care for one other into the future. Even though the attack had been launched in BC, it took aim at the very heart of the Canada Health Act and every province’s public health care laws.
We became involved in this case in order to defend and protect public health care. Justice Steeves’ ruling affirmed the importance of public health care. He wrote that the sections of the MPA challenged in this case are in keeping with the “objectives of preserving and ensuring the sustainability of the universal public healthcare system and ensuring access to necessary medical services is based on need and not the ability to pay.” To read the rest of the ruling, click here.
We couldn’t have done this without the support of our membership, so thank you for being a part of this long journey. Please click here to download shareable graphics you can post on your social media networks to share the joy (with the hashtag #supportpublichealthcare).
As we celebrate this important victory, we redouble our efforts to improve access and equity in the public healthcare system we cherish.
Thanks and take care,
Edith MacHattie & Kathleen Jamieson
Co-chairs, BC Health Coalition
____________________________________________________
website: www.bchealthcoalition.ca
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