Canada inching toward mixed health care

OTTAWA, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Quebec's premier has proposed changing its health care system to allow private insurance for some procedures and to use public funds at private clinics.

Premier Jean Charest's plan aims to bring Quebec into compliance with a Supreme Court decision last year that found waits in some cases so long that they violated patients' "life and personal security, inviolability and freedom," the New York Times reported. The court ruled that the province could not ban private insurance when the public health care system was not performing adequately.

The decision is binding only on Quebec. But other Canadian provinces are considering changes.

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, in his speech at the opening of the legislature, asked if it mattered whether a public or private facility delivered healthcare as long as it was publicly funded. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is also considering allowing private institutions.

The new Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, has said little about health care.