The BC Health Coalition is an intervenor in the Dr. Brian Day and Cambie Surgeries court case. Following is a recap of what they have been up to, both inside and outside the courtroom.

SOHC is a member of the BCHC and we are following this case closely.

1. Health policy expert testifies in defence of public health care in Cambie case

Public health expert Dr. David Himmelstein, M.D. took the stand in the Cambie case to offer a comparative analysis of the US and Canadian health care systems.  Dr. Himmelstein, the second expert witness brought by our intervenor group, is a well-respected health policy professor at City University of New York School of Public Health and lecturer in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Himmelstein has studied the impacts of for-profit healthcare and private insurance in the U.S. for decades.

Dr. Himmelstein’s evidence went to the heart of Cambie Surgeries’ central claims, and refuted the deceptions relied on by Cambie in an attempt to prove their case. He  testified to the overall societal costs to health care if Cambie Surgeries’ legal attack against the public health care system were to be successful. Dr. Himmelstein gave evidence on the dangers of introducing private insurance into single-payer health care systems such as Canada’s, and the risks of allowing for-profit healthcare organizations to operate.

2. BC Health Coalition experts debunk myth that private clinics and for-profit health care decrease wait times Continue reading →