By Bernard Ho, Thara Kumar
Published Aug 28, 2026
Edmonton Journal
Bernard Ho is an emergency doctor in Toronto. Thara Kumar is an emergency doctor in Red Deer. Both are board members of Canadian Doctors for Medicare.
Imagine two Albertans need the same surgery. One can pay thousands out of pocket. The other cannot. Under the law Canada has operated by since 1984, both wait in the same line because medical need, not money, determines who gets treated first. Under Alberta’s new Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), that is no longer guaranteed.
Alberta’s law formally allows physicians to bill some patients directly, case by case, for medically necessary care, while billing the public system for the same care provided to other patients. This means a doctor can offer faster services to any patient willing to pay privately, while those who can’t pay remain in the longer public queue, for the exact same procedure.
That is what a two-tier, multi-payer health system looks like, and the Canada Health Act was designed precisely to protect Canadians from this type of inequality. Yet, while Alberta is actively taking steps to violate this law, Ottawa remains silent.
Alberta says dual practice and private pay are compatible with the act. This is false. They say Alberta will attach guardrails to protect against doctors preferentially choosing to treat lucrative private-pay patients first, including minimum hours physicians must work in the publicly funded system, and only allowing private pay for some types of surgeries.
Tracking adherence requires expensive measurement systems — public funds better spent on caring for patients. Guardrails will fail, as they have before, and Canadians will suffer as a result.
Read more at the Edmonton Journal
