Questions raised about private insurance

The CMA's decision to open the door to private health insurance raises new questions about accessibility (see article above).

Health insurance isn't readily available to people with pre-existing conditions, acknowledged QMA President Dr. Robert Ouellet, who proposed the CMA motion regarding private funding. This means Canadians would have to buy insurance when they are healthy on the assumption that they won't have timely access to care if they need it.

Furthermore, an August CMA poll found that 58% of physicians feel their patients either don't qualify for, or can't afford, private health insurance.

CMA President Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai said earlier this summer that Canada needs to reform the insurance industry to ensure widespread accessibility.

The motion supporting private insurance “is not a solution that is going to help our patients,” said Ottawa emergency physician Atul Kapur. “It's a solution that will help insurance companies, which can skim [off] the healthy patient population and make profits and leave everyone else to the public system, which will be in even worse shape.”

Other delegates disagreed. “We're saying, ‘Simply give patients another option to alleviate their suffering’,” said Dr. Larry Erlick of North York, Ont. “The reality is that governments are failing my patients.”