NDP commits to stop corporations from billing patients for care

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced Monday that an NDP government will update the Canada Health Act to stop corporations from giving patients a bill for health care – whether a person gets it online, in a clinic or over the phone.

“I will make sure it’s Medicare that pays for your doctor’s appointments and surgeries, whether they’re virtual or in person. You should not have to pull out your credit card to cover the care you get – the bill should go to the government, not your family,” said Singh.

“We will give clear direction to the provinces, requiring them to cover more services, including health care by phone, laptop or in a clinic, and we will back it up by modernizing the Canada Health Act. Plus, we will make sure provinces bring in laws to go after the corporations who charge Canadians for the health care they need, making it a condition of health care funding.”

Under the Canada Health Act, medical care covered by provincial governments cannot be billed to the patient – but corporations are exploiting loopholes to bill patients directly. Corporations like Maple, owned by Loblaws, charge patients a monthly membership fee to have a family doctor. Maple and others also bill patients for virtual specialist appointments. Exploiting another loophole, large surgical corporations with locations all over Canada get patients to travel to a different province for surgery, where they don't have a provincial health card and can therefore be stuck with a bill for tens of thousands of dollars.

The growth in cash-for-care schemes means doctors, nurses and frontline health care workers are being poached by for-profit clinics, leaving fewer family doctors to take patients and fewer frontline workers on every shift in hospitals all over the country.

“Pierre Poilievre has been meeting in secret with a private American hospital owner – and we can guess what he’s been promising them,” said Singh. “And Canadians, including Karina Gould, are deeply disappointed that Mark Carney is now suggesting he would cut public services like health care, but increase spending to spur private investment – which means more money for big corporations and CEOs. Canadian Medicare is part of who we are as a nation. We take care of one another, not just those who pay up. Canadians do not want to see us become more American.

“I’m putting Galen Weston and the other rip-off artists on notice: get your greedy hands off patients’ wallets.”

Singh’s commitment was made at the SOS Medicare conference in Ottawa, where the Canadian Health Coalition, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, Canadian Union of Public Employees, National Union of Public and General Employees and the Public Service Alliance of Canada have gathered to make sure defending and expanding Medicare is on the 2025 election agenda.