Group wants Alberta to end ‘health-care monopoly’ and allow private health insurance

CALGARY – A legal challenge of single-tier health care in Alberta says banning private insurance for medically necessary services is a virtual monopoly.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is supporting two people who say they were forced to pay out of pocket to get the health care they required in the U.S. because of system in Alberta.

Lawyer John Carpay wants a 2005 Supreme Court of Canada decision pertaining to Quebec expanded to include Alberta.

The top court struck down a Quebec law that banned private insurance for medically necessary services.

Carpay says the government needs to realize that access to a waiting list does not equate to access to medical care.

He says no one in the world is following the same model as Canada except North Korea and Cuba.