Quebec Ban on Private Health Insurance Is Struck Down
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's highest court struck down a Quebec law that bars people from buying insurance to pay their own medical expenses and bypass the province's public-health system, opening the way for creation of private clinics.
The Supreme Court of Canada today voted 6-3 to overturn a lower court ruling. The ban violates Quebec's constitution by denying people vital health care and putting their lives in jeopardy, the high court said.
``This is the end of medicare as we know it,'' John Williamson, federal director of the lobby group Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, said in a telephone interview. ``It's also the beginning of better care.''
The decision paves the way for lawsuits to be filed in the rest of Canada's provinces and puts the country of 33 million people on a path toward the kind of two-tier health-care system prevalent in most European countries, Williamson said. Prime Minister Paul Martin has resisted efforts in British Columbia and Alberta to let private clinics provide services covered by the government-funded system.
``The evidence in this case shows that delays in the public health care system are widespread, and that, in some serious cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists,'' the Supreme Court said in its ruling. Prohibiting private health insurance allows ``only the very rich, who can afford private health care without need of insurance, to secure private care.''
U.K. Example
Martin has threatened to cut off federal funding to provinces that violate the Canada Health Act by allowing private clinics. The Supreme Court said the publicly funded system can co-exist with private care, as in the U.K.
``The evidence on the experience of other western democracies with public health care systems that permit access to private health care refutes the government's theory that a prohibition on private health insurance is connected to maintaining quality public health care,'' the ruling said.
The lawsuit was filed in 1997 by Quebec businessman George Zeliotis, 73, who had waited a year for hip-replacement surgery. He was told it was illegal to buy private health insurance.
Quebec courts had ruled that although the law violated the constitution it had to remain in place to protect the public health-care system.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Joe Schneider in Ottawa at jschneider5@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 9, 2005 12:50 EDT
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