B.C. gov't gets tough with private clinic

Miro Cernetig, CanWest News Service; Vancouver SunPublished: Friday, December 01, 2006 Canada.com
VICTORIA - A showdown over the future of medicare is expected to unfold in Vancouver today as the B.C. government threatens to shut down a private clinic that may start charging patients for services that should be free under the health care system. ''We need to ensure universal access to health care is maintained in this province,'' B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said Thursday. In what Abbott called ''an extraordinary move,'' the B.C. government pushed through a cabinet order Thursday that will empower government auditors to enter the premises of the Urgent Care Centre that has promised to open its doors today in Vancouver.
While the private clinic's operators have yet to charge anyone for emergency services, they have made it clear they plan to challenge the status quo of Canada's medicare system. In advertisements, in which they call their facility a place ''for conditions requiring prompt attention,'' the clinic's operators seem to suggest they will seek a $199 evaluation fee from patients and charge $70 to set a broken arm in a cast and $50 for X-rays. Abbott said that would likely violate the Canada Health Act and the provincial B.C. Medical Services Act, which make it illegal for any doctor within the medicare system to extra-bill for procedures that are supposed to be universally available and free under medicare. The operators of the clinic could not be reached for comment. But the B.C. government said it can't immediately shut down the clinic. It will be sending in an audit team from the independent Medical Service's Commission to investigate its billing practices.