EDMONTON — This morning, Minister Adriana LaGrange announced regulations to Bill 11: Health Statutes Amendment Act 2025 (No.2), passed last December. This sweeping, 300-page legislation established an unprecedented model of two-tiered health care access in Alberta by allowing physicians to work in both the public and private systems concurrently, including charging patients out of pocket. No where else in Canada allows this model of “Dual Practice,” and legal opinion already indicates that Bill 11 is in violation of the Canada Health Act.
The program is set to launch in September 2026, with applications opening for physicians next week. Eligible procedures will include orthopedic procedures, hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery, select ear, nose and throat procedures, gynecological surgeries, dermatology, plastic surgery, and other general surgeries such as hernia repair.
“There is absolutely no evidence that this will increase capacity or shorten wait times, it just creates a way for the wealthy to jump the queue, while the rest of us wait longer or are forced to go without,” said Friends of Medicare’s executive director, Chris Gallaway. “In fact, as Albertans have repeatedly seen, this government's failed privatization strategy has already reduced public capacity to life-saving surgical care. This will only further undermine our publicly delivered health care.”
These long-awaited regulations set a framework, but ultimately remain open to “further adjustments” based on input from “stakeholders” — who we know to primarily be the private insurance industry, the very companies that stand to profit most from the privatization of Alberta’s health care.
“Instead of bolstering our public system to ensure that everyone in this province has timely access to the care they need, this government is dismantling it bit by bit to make it easier for private health care companies, shareholders, and the private insurance industry to profit off of the growing care needs of Albertans,” said Gallaway. “Health care is not a business, it is an essential public good. Telling Albertans to choose between cleaning out your retirement fund and waiting years in pain for a needed surgery is frankly insulting, and goes against the principles of equitability and universality on which our public Medicare system is founded.”
Friends of Medicare remains extremely concerned that this will pull much-needed resources and workers out of our public system, further reducing surgical capacity in our hospitals and exacerbating long wait times for often life-saving procedures. This change to Alberta’s surgical delivery comes while the provincial government is still engrossed in ongoing allegations of serious corruption in surgical procurement, and while most recent government data shows that only 54% of the top five cancer surgeries in Alberta are completed within recommended timelines.
“Now is the moment for Albertans to speak up loudly to say no to American-style, two-tiered health care where the rich get care while the rest of us are left waiting longer or forced to go without,” concluded Gallaway.
Friends of Medicare is calling on Albertans to speak out against two tier health care by contacting your MLA, and telling the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act.
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