A doctor is challenging Canada’s public healthcare system in a legal battle that could determine whether or not private health insurance and for-profit clinics can push forward in the country.
Dr. Brian Day, who operates a private surgery company in Vancouver, has launched a case challenging the federal government’s Medicare program, which resumes next week. According to the doctor, Canada’s current public healthcare system is not working for the nation’s many patients.
“Our system is inefficient because it is a government monopoly,” Day told VICE News in an interview.
Day – a former president of the Canadian Medical Association – explained that about 200,000 Canadians suffer on waiting lists before they can receive proper medical attention. He reasoned that allowing people to purchase private medical insurance and access private clinics like his could expedite treatments.
“Canada is the only country on earth where it’s unlawful to buy private health insurance,” he added.
The doctor also mentioned that his clinic has been violating Canadian healthcare law for over 20 years – something he does not feel guilty about. Day argued that individuals should have the right to choose private facilities.
Health insurance privatization proponents have backed Day and his court action, such as James Hutt, the interim national director of policy and advocacy of the Ottawa-based lobby group Canadian Health Coalition.
“We want a system that puts patients before profits,” Hutt told VICE News. “When people try to jump the queue by paying more it hurts the public system. This isn’t about wait times or improving the public system, it is about profits; profit for doctors, private clinics and insurance companies.”
A number of politicians who have criticized private healthcare have used Day’s clinic to treat their medical issues – most notably the late NDP leader Jack Layton, who was a strong adherent of public healthcare. Layton later said that he did not know that the clinic was private at the time of his treatment.
Although Day has brought up the hypocrisy of certain politicians for coming to his clinic, public healthcare continues to be a popular system. Recent polling data from a Nanos Research survey found that most Canadians (60% of respondents) support the public Medicare system and are even willing to pay their taxes to maintain it.
