National Health-Care coalition urges Ottawa to review Alberta’s dual practice health-care law

A national organization advocating for universal public health care is calling on the federal government to condemn Alberta's new dual practice legislation, arguing it could undermine the principles of Canada's public health-care system.

The Canadian Health Coalition is raising concerns about Bill 11, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, which was passed by the Alberta government in December. The legislation allows physicians to work in both the publicly funded and privately funded health-care systems.

Coalition Chair Jason MacLean says Alberta's approach is unprecedented in Canada.

“Nowhere in Canada does it allow for dual practice, so-called dual practice, or people in both streams,” MacLean said in a virtual interview with CTV News Edmonton. “In Quebec, they have it set up that you can opt out of the public system and go into the private system, but nobody is working in both.”

The organization commissioned a legal opinion earlier this spring to determine whether Bill 11 violates the Canada Health Act. The federal legislation sets out the core principles of Canada's health-care system and establishes the conditions provinces must meet to receive federal health transfer funding.