Join us as we discuss primary care in Canada and the significance of the Canada Health Act interpretation letter. 

Our goal is to secure comprehensive public coverage for virtual care and nurse practitioner clinics, taking meaningful strides toward addressing primary care challenges and reducing health care wait times. This policy issue is critical for the future of Medicare.

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With over 6.5 million Canadians lacking access to a family doctor, virtual care and nurse practitioner clinics have become valuable additions to primary care services. However, because the 40-year-old CHA does not explicitly address either, for-profit health care providers and private insurance companies are exploiting this gap to bill Canadians out-of-pocket. With provincial and territorial governments choosing to be unresponsive, this situation risks further descent into a two-tier health care system.

Charging for medically necessary health care – whether by billing patients or through their employer-funded private insurance – contravenes the spirit and intent of the CHA.

We will detail how this situation is harming patients, stressing our public health care system, and weakening Medicare, all while ignoring better solutions than the status quo that only benefits for-profit health providers and private insurance companies.