EDMONTON — This Wednesday, as Canada’s Premiers were meeting in Charlottetown for the Council of Federation, the Alberta government quietly issued Orders in Council which reclassified all preventive health testing services as non-insured extended health services, as well as other regulatory changes. 

EDMONTON — With the recent passing of Bill 29 in the spring session permitting private-pay diagnostic services without referral, TELUS Health hasn’t wasted any time capitalizing on their chance to charge Albertans directly out-of-pocket for diagnostic testing. A promotional email sent on June 15 advertises “Total Body MRIs Starting at $2995,” available at their TELUS Health SKY Clinic in Calgary. This is just one of many products on offer at TELUS Health Care Centres in Alberta.

EDMONTON — This afternoon, the UCP government tabled Bill 29, Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2026. If passed, this legislation will implement a promise the government previously announced in October, permitting Albertans to pay privately for diagnostic services without a referral.

EDMONTON — After two years, Auditor General Doug Wylie’s report An Examination of Community Laboratory Services (Contract with DynaLIFE) was tabled in the Legislature yesterday afternoon. Friends of Medicare spent the evening reviewing the 48-page report, which raises considerable concerns.

EDMONTON — Today Premier Danielle Smith and Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adrianna LaGrange announced plans for new “reforms” to diagnostic testing, introducing American-style health care which will see Albertans paying out of pocket for private diagnostic screening and testing services, including MRIs, CT scans, full-body scans and blood work.

EDMONTON — Yesterday, an important new report was released by the Parkland Institute entitled, “Undervalued and Overstretched: Inequity, Discrimination, and the Crisis Facing Alberta’s Allied Health-Care Workforce.” It outlines the conditions driving widespread burnout and retention issues among Alberta’s health care workers.

LETHBRIDGE — A new report commissioned by Friends of Medicare from the Parkland Institute and authored by Salimah Valiani titled, “Public Funds for Private Profit: The Evolution of Health Care Privatization in Alberta” was released publicly today, outlining the systematic privatization efforts of Alberta’s health care system by successive provincial governments since the 1990s.

EDMONTON — Following yesterday’s leaked documents, Danielle Smith’s government followed through on announcing a massive restructuring of public health care in Alberta, as well as a new Alberta Health Services Board chaired by a former conservative cabinet minister, Lyle Oberg. None of this was part of the UCP’s platform in this year’s election.

After years of unprecedented pressures on our public health care system, health care workers and patients in this province are seeking certainty when it comes to something as important as our public health care system. They aren’t looking for changes of this scale being directed by politicians, rather than health care experts and community needs.

Earlier today, the Premier and Health Minister announced that Alberta’s community lab services will go back to being delivered by our public labs across the province, taking services back from DynaLIFE.

EDMONTON - On December 1, following multiple delays, Alberta’s community medical laboratory services were formally transitioned from being publicly delivered by Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL), to being privately delivered by for-profit company, DynaLIFE. In the months since, people in communities across Alberta in need of blood work have continuously reported ongoing delays, or weeks-long waits