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We risk losing Canada’s public health care system in 2014.
Right now, there’s a dangerous legal attack before the courts that could turn Canada’s Medicare system into a US-style system – without the public having a say. The attack is driven by Dr. Brian Day, owner of a Vancouver for-profit clinic known for unlawfully billing taxpayer and patient money. Dr. Day is on a reckless campaign to replace Canada’s Medicare with a US-style system, and he’s using the courts to do it. The case is being called the most significant constitutional challenge in Canadian history. And it’s going to trial in BC Supreme Court in 2014.
What does this mean for you and your family?
If Dr. Day wins this case, we’ll lose the public health care system that our families rely on. Doctors will be able to set any price that they want. Expensive private insurance will become the new norm like in the United States where the cost of insurance for an average family of four is $16,000 a year. Most bankruptcies in the US are due to medical bills – we don’t want to see a Canada where we risk losing our homes or go deep in debt when we get sick or injured.
Public wait times will also become longer, as doctors and nurses are drained from the public system to the for-profit system. That means that waits will become much longer for the rest of us while the elite get preferential access.
Why it’s a national issue affecting all of us in Canada
Even though the case is in BC, it threatens health care for all of us. If Dr. Day wins the case the laws that protect our public health care system will crumble across the country. We have to make sure Dr. Day is defeated. Canadians take pride in a system that looks after all of us when we need it – we don’t want US-style health care.
There are real solutions to the challenges we face that won’t compromise the values of fairness and access to good health care for all. Who’s fighting for our public health care system? The BC Health Coalition and Canadian Doctors for Medicare are interveners in this case. This means that we are participating directly in the case, and we’ll be standing up for Medicare in court. But this fight will not only be won in court. We need you to make sure that Dr. Day is defeated by sending a clear message: we want a system that cares for everyone, and taking away our health care system is wrong. We need to make sure our voices are loud and clear in government, media and our friends and family – we want a Medicare system that works for all people in Canada.
What can you do?
We need your support to help save Canada’s Medicare system. Help raise awareness about this case in your community, and help ensure that we are speaking out together about the importance of protecting public health care in court.
Take action:
1) Sign up at www.savemedicare.ca and keep up to date on the case.
2) Spread the word in your community: help organize a local event, talk to your friends
groups in your area.
3) Write to your local newspaper, and let them know your concerns about this important case.
Visit www.savemedicare.ca for more information