All options should be on the table for financing an overhaul of Canada's health system - including the possibility of user fees, the outgoing head of the nation's largest doctors' group says.
"We support the Canada Health Act. ... We believe that nobody should be denied access to meaningful health services because of their inability to pay," Dr. Jeff Turnbull, president of the Canadian Medical Association said Monday at the organization's annual general council meeting in St. John's. "Those are essential tenets." But, "I think the public would expect us to look at all options," the Ottawa doctor said.
This is interesting because, although the CMA has talked about user fees in the past, Dr. Thurnbull has always backed away from any such suggestions and I had always gotten the impression that he was solidly opposed. So it is heartening to see that he is at least open to a dialogue and is willing to “look at all options.”
The problem is that any debate or discussion on user fees would be completely abstract. Provinces are forbidden by the Canada Health Act to initiate any experiments that would allow us to find out how user fees would work in Canada. The Canada Health Act is like a cage shutting provinces off from potential policy solutions that could make universal health care sustainable in Canada.
If we really want to be serious and take a look at new funding structures for the health care system then we need to first: remove, reform, or suspend the Canada Health Act.