Will Canada Legalize Private Health Insurance?
Those of you who are all gung-ho to see the private cultivation of “medical” marijuana legalized in the U.S. don’t know the half of it. In Canada, even private health insurance is illegal (except for services not covered by the Canada Health Act). In fact, it’s even illegal to pay your own money for health care!
But as one reader alerted me, this may be about to change — in a very “American” way, that is, by a lawsuit:
The case involved Quebec doctor Jacques Chaoulli and his patient George Zeliotis who argued that the ban on buying private insurance for health care infringed on Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Quebec Charter of Rights.
Zeliotis said his year-long wait for a hip replacement in 1997 violated his right to life, liberty and security under the Canadian charter, and a similar guarantee in the Quebec charter.
The [Canadian] Supreme Court split on whether the law violated the Canadian charter, but four of the seven justices who considered the case ruled that it violated the Quebec charter.
[Dr.] Chaoulli has long campaigned for the right to set up a private medical business, and once went on a hunger strike over the issue.
Needless to say, defenders of the status quo are panicked:
Even though the ruling has direct application only in Quebec, there was widespread agreement that it will lead to similar cases in other provinces, and increase the already strong tendencies toward a two-tier system.
“This is the end of medicare as we know it,” said John Williamson of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “This is a breach in government monopoly health care in this country.
“It’s going to open up litigation across the country in the other nine provinces as taxpayers there press for the same right which is the right to seek and buy insurance to cover private health care.”
The Canadian Medical Association called it a “historic” ruling that could “fundamentally change the health-care system in Canada as we now know it.”
In Quebec City, interim Parti Quebecois Leader Louise Harel said Quebec’s public health system is threatened and she urged Premier Jean Charest to defend it.
Charest had no immediate reaction, saying he wanted to read the judgment.
Well, that sounds like a good idea. I’m always in favor of reading. 
UPDATE (6/15/05): The Wall Street Journal has commented on this case in an editorial. Good reading.
