SACPA logo (Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs)

By Justin Goulet

Activist voices opposition of health care service privatization in Alberta

Sep 10, 2020 | 11:20 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – An Alberta activist is voicing concerns with changes to Alberta’s health care system.

Sandra Azocar, the executive director of Friends of Medicare, presented to the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) on Thursday morning, Sept. 10.

She critiqued the UCP’s recent handling of provincial health care.

“This government will under-resource, under-fund and under-staff our public services, our public health and offer the private sector as a solution,” Azocar said, putting a focus on Bill 30.

According to the government, the Health Statutes Amendment Act aims to improve access to health services for all Albertans.

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Bill 30 allows for more private public health services to operate and changes the way doctors can bill patients and work with the government. Azocar doesn’t believe this will bode well for most Albertans.

She also cited the UCP’s Blue Ribbon Panel’s work in 2019. The group was put together to look into the province’s expenditures.

“The panel was given a very narrow mandate to examine expenses, but not revenues, and was tasked with recommending a path to a balanced budget by the year 2022-23, without raising taxes,” she said.

“The panel released its report on September 3 and the recommendations includes massive cuts to public services, which served to directly inform the UCP future policies and financial planning.”

In the area of health care, the panel recommended changes to how services were delivered and health care professional compensated.

“Most concerning was the recommendation that the government expand the role of private health care in Alberta,” she Azocar said.

“We propose that this transformational change should have focused on expanding and improving our public health care system, rather than looking at expanding the role of private health care.”

She said if the province was serious about true transformational change, services such as seniors’ care and home care should be brought back under the “public umbrella” as opposed to the private sector.

“Overall, this bill is a very damaging piece of legislation intended to erode public delivery of health care by building a health care delivery market and encouraging much greater corporate involvement by allowing them to receive public funding for publicly-funded services,” she said.

“That’s how we have actually been sold this new bill, is by saying Albertans won’t pay anything out of pocket because it’s publicly-funded but the intent of it is the fact that we are actually setting the stage for [a] potential significant shift to for-profit delivery of not only surgical surgeries, but also of acute care, diagnostic imaging, labs and primary community care services.”

Additionally, Azocar noted a review of Alberta Health Services conducted by Ernst & Young.

Her full presentation to SACPA can be viewed below.

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