Doctors should not be allowed to bill patients for services covered under Canada’s public health care system, but some do.

Doctors should not be allowed to bill patients for services covered under Canada’s public health care system, but some do.
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Advocates sue over medical extra billing

An advocacy group is supporting a court case that seeks to oblige the Canadian government to stop doctors in Quebec province from billing patients for services that should be free under Canada’s publicly-funded health care system.

Provinces accused of ‘gross violations’

Under the Canada Health Act the federal government delivers funding to the provinces and territories which manage the delivery of health care services. But the advocacy group the Canadian Health Coalition says there are gross violations of the law because of extra-pilling in the provinces of Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario.

Extra billing becoming ‘common,’ warns group

It says Quebec’s provincial government legalized extra billing making it common for patients to pay more than $500 for anesthesia when having a colonoscopy or $80 for eye drops used to treat macular degeneration.

The coalition says it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure provinces are enforcing the health care laws by stopping extra billing, and that civil society groups should not have to go to court to oblige it to do so.

The court case was launched by another advocacy group called Réseau FADOQ.

Categories: Health, Society
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