Timing is everything, so Dr. Sally Talbot-Jones must have been kicking herself yesterday for launching her effort to charge patients as much as $4,800 a year up front to see a doctor in a timely fashion when she did.
It must have been frustrating for the Calgary family physician when news reports revealed more than 40 medical clinics in Alberta are charging “membership fees” eight months after she sent her fateful email about the same idea to her patients, setting off a province-wide brouhaha.
However, according to the provincial health department, none of those clinics are charging fees for services covered by public health insurance, so everything’s cool.
Still, if only Dr. Talbot-Jones had waited until now to tell her patients about her “transformative healthcare initiative,” instead of last July, she might have had a significantly better chance of being able to implement her plan to require patients at her Marda Loop Medical Clinic to pony up annual fees if they wanted to see a doctor promptly.
The reason: Because with a federal election looming, Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party is now focused on picking fights with Ottawa, and just about any old fight will do.
When the news of Dr. Talbot-Jones’s plan leaked out last year, one of the first things that happened was that Health Canada, as the federal health department is known, announced the idea amounted to preferential treatment for paying patients, and therefore violated the Canada Health Act.
“Membership fees at private clinics, for preferential access to insured health services, are considered patient charges under the Canada Health Act and raise concerns under the accessibility requirement of the Act,” the feds said in a statement.
Federal officials also wrote a stiff letter to Alberta Health, the provincial ministry, “to inform them that the ability for patients to purchase preferential access is contrary to the Canada Health Act.”
At the time, while the provincial reaction was not perfect, it was reasonably sensible.
In a statement published on the Alberta Government website on July 25, Premier Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said they expected physicians to follow the law, including the Canada Health Act, and then moved into the no-laws-were-broken defence with which followers of Alberta politics are familiar.
“Alberta’s government would be extremely concerned if this clinic was charging fees for services that are insured and offering accelerated access to a family physician at the expense of other patients needing to wait longer,” the 2023 Alberta statement continued. “We have directed Alberta Health to investigate this specific clinic to ensure compliance with all legislation. If any non-compliance with relevant legislation is found, we will take appropriate action.”
According to a CBC report yesterday, that review hasn’t quite been completed, but provincial officials have turned up 40-plus clinics that charge fees – “for a defined set of uninsured services, while also providing insured services covered under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan.”
In other words, as predicted in this space a year ago, the government has concluded no laws were broken.
Now, it’s reasonable to be skeptical about that claim but, as also predicted here in 2023, nobody at Alberta Health is likely to be in any hurry to look too closely at what those more than 40 clinics are actually up to.
The fees proposed for Marda Loop patients would have ranged from $4,800 per year for a two-parent family membership to $2,200 annually for a single adult. Child coverage by a single parent who couldn’t afford to pay the fee for herself would have cost $500. The clinic would have provided care one day a week for non-member patients.
The idea was sensibly dropped by the clinic soon after the furor broke out.
In a statement yesterday, Alberta Friends of Medicine Director Chris Gallaway said “it’s time for our provincial government to finally stand up for Albertans and act to end this practice.
“Banning access fees would be a chance for the premier … to keep her promise that no Albertan would ever have to pay out of pocket to access a doctor,” Mr. Gallaway said.
Sure, but that promise was made then, and this is now.
Today, it is much less likely the UCP Government would be capable of taking a miss on a chance to squabble with the Trudeau Government about anything, at least until Pierre Poilievre has been safely elected as prime minister of Canada.
The opportunity to remind the feds that health care is a provincial responsibility would have been just too hard to resist, even though it would doubtless be immediately followed by a demand that the same feds fork over more money for health care.
Municipal political parties are on the way, whether you like it or not
Bill 20, the Municipal Statutes Amendment Act and a law almost no one in Alberta wants, is expected to be introduced in the Legislature today by the United Conservative Party.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver will doubtless be trotted out one more time to explain why making Albertans put up with political parties in municipal politics is a great idea that they ought to stop hating.
Anyone who thinks municipal political parties are going to be a solution to anything – least of all the propensity of voters in Edmonton and Calgary to elect progressive councillors – has been drinking the bathwater Premier Smith’s strategic brain trust serves in their offices after “Shields Up” is shouted and the doors are locked.
Prediction: It will be a disaster, including for the UCP when they realize some of the municipal conservative parties they have spawned are even nuttier than the party’s current nuttiest faction, Take Back Alberta.
Well, the proof of the fruitcake is in the eating, so we’ll have to wait for the details to be served up to speculate on just how weird things could get.
Private for profit healthcare is what the are after, no doubt about it. Ask anyone who has lived in America, or who has relatives there, their healthcare system is a big mess. So many go broke, because they can’t pay out of their pockets for medical treatment. Bill 20 is another great example of the wanting a dictatorship.
* is what the UCP are after*
*the UCP wanting a dictatorship*
Forget measles, a more pernicious sickness is avarice “at more than 40 clinics”! We should purge ourselves of gold diggers and redouble our efforts to recruit good physicians rather than physicians who think they are better than the rest of their colleagues, and indeed better than the rest of us. Name them. We will look after what needs to be done to these low-life “high skilled” doctors. Tommy Douglas had the courage to take on the entire lot of them in Saskatchewan who thought they were of a higher order, exempt from punishment. Thankfully, Trudeau may have a finger in the dike for the present.
I wonder what’s with the Parker bots swarming your blog lately, Mr. Climenhaga? You must have struck a nerve… 🙂
CX: That was my assumption. DJC
Well DJC, I’ll share with y’all that I’m disappointed in the commentariat here lately, specifically the correspondence yesterday. When the response to an albeit unsound opinion is – you are a “dangerous conspiracy lunatic” or “you are a nutjob” is all someone will come up with it doesn’t say much for the group. Maybe you need some new blood here…
“Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre looking tired and emotional in Nova Scotia yesterday.” More like smiling about the heads he hopes to crack should the Postmedia darling plunk his backside in Ottawa’s big chair.
Tom: I was borrowing a euphemism from the British Press, of course. Perhaps I should have said “not quite himself.” At least he wasn’t “assisting the police.”
Someone online suggested he was “wasted”, someone else said “drunk”. I can’t really tell, I just expect him to act like a dork at any time.
Valerie— lol….Dork it is, though my initial response was drunk, and on closer inspection- tousled, looks like he dressed in a hurry, no dippity-do, and rather pale looking … no time for makeup before the photo shoot? Time changes starting to affect him with all the “campaigning ” he’s been doing ?
Definition of “Best Summer Ever ” would be to put him and Marlaina on one of those ‘around the world” cruise ships with no outside contact & give us all a break.
Wonder how many of the Postmedia “journalists” are following David Pecker’s testimony at the current Trump trial given his connections with AMI (now named A360Media since 2020), which is connected to Chatham Assets Management which is the ultimate owner of Postmedia. “Enquiring minds want to know.”
Would you put that man in charge of a fast-food restaurant? He’d be fired on his first day on the job. I’m talking about the stumbling, bumbling fool who can’t even tuck in his undershirt. Why would anyone put someone like that in charge of the world’s tenth largest economy, with a GDP of US$2.117 trillion? Canada’s budget balance is first in the world among G20 nations, according to the International Monetary Fund. Who on earth would think, “Let’s throw it all away and give the top job to that guy from down the street, who rolls out of bed and into work wearing the clothes he slept in last night?” Give your heads a shake, Canadians! Is this who you want to represent us on the world stage?
As for Ric, he got a bit of a shakeup/early warning during the 2023 election with some pushback at the polls. Maybe it was because he showed up on doorsteps for the first time that anyone could remember, even when he was an alderman, as they used to be called. Perhaps some of the “interesting” characters who tagged along with him are working behind the scenes on this project, which will come to fruition today. How’s your brother-in-law, Ric?
Bananas are going to be Canada’s national fruit before long. Alberta’s provincial legume will be peanuts. Grab the organ grinder, folks. This show is about to begin.
Abs: I have watched and listened to the Nova Scotia video several times. Mr. Poilievre appeared to be impaired, but did not slur his words. Without being an expert on the matter, I would say he seemed to be under the influence of some good bud. But who knows, maybe it was a physical reaction to a pharmaceutical medication and his dose can be adjusted. At least he wasn’t driving – definitely a point in his favour. DJC
Whatever the reason, he did not make a wise decision in showing us this bumbling behavior: confused, disorganized, sloppy. What were his handlers thinking? He will bring this lack of judgment with him to his next job.
A fellow gym rat and I were talking about Skippy Pollivere’s sudden explosion of size. I mean, the man has been bulking up and quick. Physical fitness is the norm of expectations that voters have of potential leaders, and the CONs are jumping into that game with a vengeance. Of course, it does get to some ridiculous of extremes. The laughable cover the CPC’s policy guide during the 2021 election displayed Erin O’Toole as though he was a cover model for Men’s Health magazine. I’m sure O’Toole was the picture of health in his younger days, which would put him well out of step with the young RPC types I knew. Honestly, a steady diet of McDonald’s and beer will make a 20-something year-old age very quickly, and I witnessed it first hand. Of course, they did mock me for eating something as weird as a balanced diet. But I was much more regular, so there. So, what did my gym rat friend propose as an explanation for Skippy’s growth. “He’s got to be juicing,” was his quick reply. Who knows what substances Skippy has been ingesting to get the edge over PMJT; but the effects, I understand, can be both problematic and hilarious.
Just Me— Nailed it…imo
an X, who was a bodybuilder, made me think the same thing, especially after his ” totally staged” pics/ X, on April 19@ 11:42 ….LMAO
Or as DJC alluded, pharmaceuticals , though my guess would be of the mushroom variety from the company in his riding that he’s been touting , as the poor mushroom farmer hard done by, by the carbon tax , but seems no one else bothered to check out what kind of shrooms they grow. ( FYI–Mike Medeiros/ Carleton Mushroom Farms/ Red Light Holland…premium magic truffles…????
There is no doubt that calls have been made by the Conservative Party of Canada to the Conservative Provincial Premiers across Canada to cause as much trouble for Trudeau and the Liberals as they are able to muster between now and the next Federal Election. Hence the asinine antics from Smith, Ford, Moe, Higgs et al.
A government elected out of spite, who spends all its time drawing up bills no one wants and no one asked for, out of spite.
Wow. Just read all the updated comments on yesterday’s column. That sure generated some heated “debate” about science, viruses, stats and whether a cold can be lethal. Do you keep track of which columns generate the most reader response?
Lefty: There are analytics, although I confess I don’t pay as much attention to them as I ought. I do know when there’s a lot of interest because I moderate all comments myself. There were actually more than you have seen because I deleted several that were incoherent, abusive without making a point, or highly repetitive. When you see this kind of response, it means a campaign has been ginned up because this blog would be well outside those readers’ normal information silo. Advocacy of gun control, criticism of trucker blockades, and commentary about home schoolers and private schools all generate similar outrage. DJC
So basically: Sanity is a dirty word in the TBA UCP ( checks running count of lunatic right wing brands) Socreds faux PC? Who knew? After eighty very odd years!
Does Skippy’s wife know that he got out of the house dressed like that. What an embarrassment. My guess is Skippy is about to receive a phone call from his boss, Mr. Harper.
You know I think I’ll work on an inflation adjusted spread sheet of dividends and retained earnings pocketed by oil and gas in Alberta since 1950. I’ll adjust it for inflation. Then you can compare it to the scams that have passed for conservative policy! Our resources? Their money! I mean those yachts won’t buy themselves!
I couldn’t resist… This famous but depressing Shakespearean quote is so UCP (Smith et al), especially the last 2 lines.
Speech: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”
By William Shakespeare
(from Macbeth, spoken by Macbeth)
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Reading all the measures proposed to control Municipal governments in Bill 20, plus the financial restrictions of Bill 18, and the other ‘Acts’ the UCP have put in makes it clear that they are in the process of successively establishing a system of control over all aspects of our society to stifle opposition. Ninety years ago that was called Gleichschaltung.
$4,800 a year. That should work well for those who are lining up at the food bank while working full time because they can’t afford their rent or mortgage payments.
If people had to pay that much extra each year it might be E.R.s are going to be very, very busy.
If doctors want to pick the pockets of taxpayers to receive “timely” care, it makes me wonder are they just slow right now because they want more money? Had to ask because sometimes prior to a strike workers would “work to rule” and that did slow things down.
100 Million Americans are struggling to pay their medical debts. One in 12 of those loose their homes as a result.
If that is what Canadians want, I’m sure the conservatives will deliver it. At 74 I recall what it was like to not have health insurance in B.C. O.K. I eavesdropped on adults and found out it really stressed them. The conversation I over heard has never left me. I still remember where they were sitting in the park. Our family was fortunate that medical care insurance was provided for by our parental unit’s unionized employer–thank you IBEW.